Beautiful Disaster
by Kittysand Katie
Summary: [AU YusKei mild KurBot] Newly orphaned Keiko Yukimura quickly learns everyone at boarding school has a secret. With lethal secrets revealed and budding romances slain, can Keiko beautify the worst of disasters?
1. Last Day

**"Beautiful Disaster"**

**Chapter 1**

_And if I could hold on…_

_Through the tears and the laughter…_

_Would it be beautiful…_

_Or just a beautiful disaster…?_

6:29 a.m. The sun was rising at a slow pace, making the sky a pale gray-blue rather than black. In another place, perhaps one could hear the birds awakening, chirping at their mates, or see the sun's rays peek through the trees at the sleeping forms of strangers. But in the bustling city of Tokyo, one couldn't hear those things, or anything, for that matter, besides their own race sauntering out of bed, or their alarm clock trying to take the place of the traditional birds others were so fortunate to have.

This was Keiko Yukimura's predicament.

At six-thirty, Keiko's alarm clock began to play a "beep" version of Beethoven's ninth. She opened her eyes ever-so-slowly and banged an outstretched arm on the clock to turn it off. Pushing her pink blankets off her chest, Keiko staggered out of bed and to her closet to get her school uniform.

It was then when Keiko remembered: today was the last day of school, and, to be exact, Keiko's last day of school at Sarayashiki Junior High. She didn't know what high school she was going to attend, but only that she was going to attend one, as Keiko had passed her middle school exit exam with flying colors.

Like all students at the end of the school year, Keiko was more than tired of school. The freedom of summer beckoned- the seemingly endless days of boredom but happiness were only a few hours away, and she was well aware. Even Keiko Yukimura, class president, tired of her duties.

Once Keiko was in her school uniform, a simple blue and yellow sailor dress with a knee-length skirt and baggy white socks, she moved over to her white, wooden dresser. After years of the practice, Keiko could place her bosom-length hair into two "farmer girl" pigtails in about thirty seconds. After that was done, she put on an average amount of makeup that would seem completely natural- the excessive amounts of black eyeliner-wearing that was on the rise reminded Keiko of the eyes of characters in her favorite mangas.

Keiko's plain briefcase for school sat next to her door, and when Keiko moved to get it, she could smell her breakfast, cooking downstairs in the Yukimura Diner. She opened the door and made her way downstairs, seeing her father humming as he cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast.

Parting the curtain strips, Keiko came into the diner, and her father noticed her immediately. "Morning, Keiko-chan," He greeted, beaming at Keiko, "Eggs? Bacon? Both?"

She shook her head. "Just bacon. I'm not that hungry."

She took a seat at the counter like a normal customer and had a plate of mouth-watering bacon and a glass of milk in front of her in just a few minutes. Keiko ate at a slow pace, knowing there was no need for rush.

"Keiko-chan, Shizuru-chan can't take you to school today. Her appointments start very early in the morning today due to Mrs. Takahashi's wacky schedule." Keiko's mother suddenly appeared in the kitchen, standing by her father. "I'd take you to school, Keiko-chan, but-"

"I know," Keiko said, her tone bored. "Business could boom. It's okay, really." After finishing her sentence, Keiko was wolfing down her bacon and getting up from her counter chair. She opened up the front door of their house, looking back at her parents. "Goodbye Mom, Dad. See you after school."

As Keiko slowly closed the door, her smiling parents yelled, "Bye, Keiko-chan!" in perfect unison. Now that she had eaten, it was time to run to school.

Keiko hadn't had to run to school for a long time, now that she was thinking about it. Keiko's parents and Shizuru's parents had been friends for a long time, and it carried on with Keiko and Shizuru. Shizuru was just a few years older, and out of college. She ran a hair and nail salon in downtown Tokyo that was popular with teenagers and wealthy women. Her brother, Kazuma, went to Keiko's school, but he didn't talk very much to anyone other than his "posse", and in the past few weeks he'd been distancing from even them. Keiko wondered if it was because of too much thought about his mother dying giving birth to him, or separation anxiety from their father, whom Shizuru had bought a nice coastal cottage for recently. She should probably ask Kazuma what was wrong when she got to school.

It took a panting Keiko about forty-five minutes to get to Sarayashiki Junior High School, which was approximately half an hour before school started at eight o'clock. The school officials didn't open the doors until 7:50, however, so Keiko was left outside.

She leaned against the school and sighed, shutting her eyes. This was getting old…

"Yukimura-san?"

Keiko opened a lone eye and looked upon the newcomer, a tall boy with generic black hair and strange ice blue eyes that made him the darling of Sarayashiki. His wiry build was envied, his silky voice well-liked by females.

Not that Keiko cared about any of those spectacular traits. Something seemed missing in her many suitors, almost as though they were coats of armor with no bodies. All style and no substance. Keiko couldn't pinpoint what it was, but there was something they were definitely missing.

"Hm?"

"How…are you celebrating the new summer, Yukimura-san?" He asked her, his eyes gleaming with hope.

"I'm not sure," Keiko answered flatly, killing the conversation and closing her eye again.

"….Oh." He simply stammered. There was a pause as both students stood, and, finally, he retreated to leave Keiko in her wonderland.

Keiko heard many of her classmates rushing over to the fences and a siren blaring. Opening her eyes, she saw a police car, no, several police cars flashing their lights, obviously after a criminal. A simple thrill. Living in Tokyo, you saw many police cars. It wasn't anything exciting.

"Did you do something, Kuwabara?" Keiko heard a student yell. Sure enough, Kazuma was advancing onto the school grounds just a few seconds after the police cars had gone by. He looked worn and unhappy, normal behavior as of late, and was alone.

Keiko decided she would talk to him. "Kazuma-kun! Over here!"

He followed her directions, staggering over to her. "Keiko-san, nee-san wants to apologize for not-"

"It's okay." Keiko reassured him. "I'm worried about you, Kazuma. What's wrong? You've clearly been unhappy for a while now."

Kazuma gave Keiko an emotion-drained smile, as though he was holding up a cardboard mouth. "I'm all right."

Keiko frowned. "You're not being sincere."

"It's nothing that concerns you." He stated, looking away from her.

"That doesn't mean I don't have the right to know," Keiko prodded, hands on her hips. She hated not knowing what was going on.

The bell rang, and Kazuma prepared to walk off. "Don't worry about me," he said, and then disappeared into the sea of uniform-clad students, though he stuck out greatly in his light blue jumpsuit and his amazing height. Keiko followed, squeezing her way into the sea, and eventually inside the school.

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

It was fifth hour, just after lunch for Keiko, and the day had already been hectic. Child after child after child was called into the office to discuss their final grades, and where they were headed for high school. Keiko hadn't been called yet. She supposed that the teachers already knew where she was going.

"Yukimura?" Mr. Iwamoto called, taking attendance for the day. And, when someone was gone, he would lecture about them for the next fifteen minutes of class. Keiko hated when Kazuma was gone.

"Here." She stated, pulling out her history book and setting it on her tired desk.

Roll call was finished quickly, and it was discovered by Mr. Iwamoto that Mina Miyake wasn't here for the last day, and he indeed spent a few minutes speaking about her hard-to-read handwriting on tests and homework.

After he was finished with that, the teacher stood just in front of his desk and began to call out names to place their history book back in his care. Knowing Mr. Iwamoto's harsh punishments, most of the class was silent as this happened, making it seem like a tribal offering.

"Sakamoto?" He called, and Hiroshi Sakamoto brought his book up to the front. Placing it on the floor in front of Mr. Iwamoto, he walked quickly back to his desk.

"Taira?" Leiko Taira brought her book up to the pile and retreated back to her seat.

"Yukimur-"

"Yukimura Keiko, please come to the guidance office. Yukimura Keiko, to the guidance office."

Keiko picked up her briefcase and her book and started for the front of the classroom. She swiftly placed her textbook on the third pile, and Mr. Iwamoto gave her the nod to go to the guidance office. Taking this in, Keiko opened the door and walked out.

The guidance office was just down the stairs from Mr. Iwamoto's room, so Keiko took the nearest stairwell to the left and then walked in the opposite direction. She reached for the door, but the knob went out of reach as another student opened it.

"Yukimura-san?" It was the boy with the blue eyes who had disturbed her. Keiko didn't say anything.

"…Yoshida-sensei wants you." Confused, Keiko nodded and went inside the cream-colored guidance office, where Ms. Yoshida was waiting for her. She was a rather young woman, only about twenty-six, but Keiko knew rather well that this woman knew what she was talking about when it came to high schools and grades. She had long black hair that was always tidy and stoic brown eyes that had probably gazed upon hundreds of students in the school behind those thick black glasses before Keiko. Keiko closed the door, taking a chair in front of Ms. Yoshida's desk, and awaited her conversation.

After about a minute of her guidance dean typing away on her big computer and reaching for files in the cabinets above her head, Keiko wondered if Ms. Yoshida was aware of her presence. Finally, the dean looked over, seeing Keiko.

"I'm sorry," Ms. Yoshida said, blushing. "Didn't see you there." She reached below her, this time, to a drawer under the desktop, and pulled out a manila folder that Keiko supposed was her student file. Opening it, Keiko saw her own picture and plenty of small words and numbers that Keiko didn't feel the need to look at.

"As you already know, Miss Yukimura, your grades are extremely high. Top-notch." Ms. Yoshida flipped over a few pages and then spoke again. "You could definitely get into any high school in Tokyo, probably even Meiou Private Academy, if that was what you really wanted." Keiko nodded. "However, the best education for you, Miss Yukimura, would be going to one of Japan's boarding schools, and you would be accepted in without a doubt. The question is, do you have enough money to go?" Keiko didn't know the answer to this question, so she remained silent. "If you don't, I understand you've expressed interest in one of the all-girl schools, but I can assure you that Meiou is a much better option-"

The door slammed open, Principal Takenaka coming in at light speed, followed by two policemen. The plump, khaki-wearing principal of Sarayashiki looked extremely distressed, his eyes watery as though he were about to cry. "Is Yukimura Keiko in here at the moment?" He said, gasping for breath.

Keiko nodded. "I'm here, sir,"

"Well, Miss Yukimura, you need to come with us," the principal ordered. Keiko meekly got out of her chair and followed, worried. Why were the police here? Had she done something wrong? Maybe a product from a store fell into her bag when she was running to school, or maybe…

"Miss Yukimura, we're going to ask you to be as calm as you possibly can as we tell you the details," The first policeman stated. "Can you try your hardest?"

"Yes, sir," Keiko answered.

"At about 7:05 this morning, Tanaka Midori went to have her breakfast at the diner. At 7:08, she went inside the bathroom and stayed in there for about three minutes. When she came out, she found most of the tables and chairs toppled over, broken glass and plates on the floor with everyone's breakfast traveling along the tiles. Ten people lay on the ground of the Diner, dead- unfortunately including both of your parents."

The policeman took a pause while Keiko's eyes watered and then closed, releasing quiet tears down her face as she tried to control her sobbing. She knelt on the floor and put her hands over her eyes, so the policemen wouldn't have to see her. Principal Takenaka found himself taken over by sad emotions, and he left the scene to mourn privately.

Keiko wondered, like most people in this sort of a situation, what she would have said, or done, if she had known. She had never lost anyone really important in her life, and she was too young to realize it when her grandparents died. She had treated it like any normal day, and now…she wouldn't see them again.

Noticing the policemen were standing calmly, watching her, she blushed. "Go…on."

"The good news is that Miss Tanaka was among six survivors, and the other five had seen the killer. They called us down, and some of our fellow policemen were able to find the killer about four minutes ago. We're one of the pairs that were sent to find surviving members of the dead.

"If you wish, you may go to the trials that will be happening over the summer- we will escort you in and out of the courtroom. The biggest issue with you, Miss Yukimura, is who will take custody of you. Unfortunately, your parents were only children, and your grandparents are all deceased. Which means-"

"Sir?" Keiko asked, taking her hands off her eyes.

"Yes?"

"If I believe that I know someone that has the ability to be a good guardian, might I allow them to be my guardian?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "As long as we approve them,"

"Then could I take you to her now?"

"Would you like to see your house?"

Keiko wondered about the question given to her. Did she really want to see the diner, in that condition? If it was how the woman had described it, Keiko didn't think she could bear to look at it.

But if she wasn't going to live there again for a long time…

"Could I visit the upstairs? Take some valuables out? You could just blindfold me on the first floor." Keiko requested, getting off of the floor and holding back tears.

The two officials nodded. "Right this way, Miss Yukimura,"

**End Chapter 1**

**Note #1: **I do not own the Kelly Clarkson song, "Beautiful Disaster". If you're curious, yes, this story is named after the song, which is definitely a Yusuke/Keiko anthem. In addition, four lines of the song will begin each chapter. If you haven't heard the song, you must. That's all I can say! It's on her first CD.

**Note #2:** Hey everybody! How's it going? Let me tell you, I am so glad to finally have some inspiration in my brain for a Yusuke/Keiko story. I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter, and I promise this story will be at least five times as good as "Community Service"- or your money back!...Ha ha, I can't actually give you anything back, but I promise I'll make this fic as good as I possibly can.

Another little thing, this isn't a "Community Service" style AU, just so you guys know- in fact, I've only changed certain minor details of the show and switched around about three of the roles. Seriously, this will almost as tied in with the show and manga as a normal fic, but it's not because I did change some things.

More good news for you readers- this is my first fanfic that I have planned out, start to finish. Well, not completely, but I know the major happenings, some of the minor happenings, and even how it all ends! Isn't that crazy that I started fics without knowing the end? That probably explains how my "Community Service" went down the drain…

To end my ranting, I hope you guys enjoyed this, and will review. Pepsi for all, Federer is better than Roddick, and Yusuke/Keiko forever!


	2. Sharp Turn

**"Beautiful Disaster"**

**Chapter 2**

_And do I try to change him?_

_So hard not to blame him…_

_Hold on tight…_

_Hold on tight…_

Sitting in the back of the policemen's car, where it appeared as though she was behind bars, did not do anything for Keiko's terribly poor mood. She realized how ironic it was that the weather always portrayed the opposite of what she was feeling: it would rain when Keiko was happy, and the sun would shine when she was sad. Needless to say, it was a perfect day in Tokyo that day.

"Would you like a particular radio station, Miss Yukimura?" The officer at the wheel asked her, ever-so-calm.

Keiko rested her head on her palm, looking out the window stoically. The two officials kept trying hopelessly to make her feel better, and it wasn't working. "No." she answered, resisting the urge to snap at them.

Following Keiko's rejection of the radio, there was a long silence in the car as one man drove, the other messed with his cell phone, and Keiko reminisced. She couldn't come to terms with the fact that her parents were gone. Her brain couldn't accept the idea, like a mismatching blood type coming into a system. This couldn't really have happened to her…could it? The police car would stop and her father would be at the door, screaming, "April Fools!" in June.

But the police car did stop in a few minutes, and surrounding her once peaceful home were a number of police cars, lights still flashing, a few normal cars, and some black vans which Keiko supposed were to take the bodies for autopsies, like in crime shows. There was a ladder going not only to her window, but to the window of her parents' room as well. To top it all off, neighbors and passersby were stopping and gaping in awe, creating a crescent of people behind the caution tape. Some of Keiko's neighbors were being interviewed by the local news stations on what they had seen.

Their car stopped right outside the crescent, and Keiko was grabbed on either side by the two officers. Holding out their badges, the police were able to get the crescent to split for them, and then they let go of Keiko's sides. The three walked easily where the spectators had parted, and then under the tape. After they were gone, the crescent halves rejoined, twice as loud.

Keiko was led over to the first ladder, which went to her parents' bedroom, because other officials were using her bedroom's ladder. Keiko went up one-armed, due to her briefcase, and landed safely in her parents' untouched bedroom. She tried not to be nostalgic, but the memories took over. She remembered when she was barely three feet high, and she'd come in and sleep with her parents because of some crazy monster in her dream. Or, when she was twelve and she liked to sneak in here and take her mother's jewelry to wear to school. And for some reason, when Keiko looked at their room, she didn't think she could take anything with her, to her "new" life.

She found some photographs of her at various ages, and some of her mother's most prized jewelry, and a family picture taken when she was a baby, and again at fourteen, all of which she packed into her briefcase. Inside their bathroom, Keiko found a bottle of the cologne her father had wore heavily all his life, and now its smell was basically his scent. On the left side of their sink was a large, framed picture of their wedding kiss, another treasure of Keiko's childhood. She packed both and left the bathroom, heading for her bedroom.

Keiko opened the door, and wasn't sure just what to take. She had so many things in here that she didn't think she could leave anything behind. What if she forgot something important? What if she forgot her-

She rushed to the window, getting some air on her face so she could calm down. Keiko saw the two policemen at the foot of this ladder, looking up at her.

"Don't worry about the big stuff, the clothes, et cetera, Miss Yukimura. We've called a moving truck." The first hollered up at her. Seeing Keiko's head stick out of the window, sympathetic bystanders in the crescent held up dollar bills and jumped up and down, trying to get the officer's attention. Dumbfounded by the crowd, Keiko waved, and returned to collecting her smaller items.

Keiko found her favorite book in her bookcase, and a few others that held special memories, and packed them inside. She took all of her makeup, and her low supply of jewelry. Keiko found some old report cards, and packed them in as well. A little geisha doll sat on Keiko's desk, and she remembered how enthralled she had been with the tiny doll as a girl, staring at it for hours. She placed it carefully in her briefcase, which was now bulging with items. Keiko decided that the moving truck could get the rest that she wanted, and so she came down the ladder. Once her foot came off the final rung, the officer shoved a basket in her face full of money, checks to herself, and more money. Not bothering to ask where the basket had come from, Keiko took it, watching as the officers once again split the crescent. They walked through again, and then got in the police car and drove away, the officials taking Keiko's directions to their next stop.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

"Oh…another woman for a perm, ne? I'm telling you, as a professional hair stylist, that perms are going to go out of style very quickly. Personally, I never liked them; they can make a pretty blonde like yourself look like you taped a million yellow threads on your head in nonsense fashion. You'd look worse than Barbie, and from me, that's saying a lot."

Keiko laughed for the first time that day as she got out of the police car, hearing Shizuru's famous "Don't Get a Perm" speech. The first official, who had introduced himself as Officer Yamada, opened the door for Keiko and the second policeman, who walked inside. The tinkling of the bell on Shizuru's door filled the room, and all of the stylists and manicurists looked over.

Shizuru's hazel eyes widened, and she continued to look from the policemen to Keiko in confusion, as did all of her coworkers that had been introduced to her in the past. Some of them, Shizuru included, dropped combs and other styling utensils in shock. The entire salon fell silent, until Shizuru finally spoke.

"Keiko…tell me you haven't been arrested." She said, making it hard to tell whether she was afraid or angry.

"Her parents were shot in the Yukimura Diner shooting this morning, and, after a few questions, apparently you're the person Miss Yukimura would most trust as her guardian."

"Yukimura Diner shooting?" Shizuru yelled, now seeming more angered. "Why the hell did no one tell me?"

"The department wasn't aware of your connection to the Yukimura family, Miss Kuwabara," Yamada replied, still calm. "Now, if you please, could you come outside with us to discuss the minor at hand and fill out the proper papers?"

Shizuru picked up her comb and set it back on her small desk with the scissors. "I'm coming. Now, Arisa, while I'm out there, I suggest you look through that book again and look for something besides a perm. You've got rare tresses- I suggest you put it to good use."

Keiko was left inside, standing at the door. She looked around the familiar salon, which had been pink before Shizuru bought it. There were still some pink spots at the top and bottom, but for the most part, Shizuru had successfully made her salon a scarlet red, with black floorboards. Red light bulbs were placed inside the black ceiling lamps, and black was also the color of choice for the furniture. Modern-looking racks of hair and nail products were along the wall, and the stations for the six stylists were arranged in a circle. The four manicure stations were around that circle, two on one side, and two on the other. Keiko recalled Shizuru once saying she wanted a "sexy single woman" feel to the salon.

"Keiko-chan?" Greeted a familiar voice from the second manicure station. Kyoko was a manicurist extraordinaire, about thirty-seven with brown hair falling to her waist, chocolate-colored eyes, and tan skin. She currently had no customers, and was perfecting her own nails. Kyoko was playful, and rarely seemed like an adult to Keiko. "Do you want a manicure? It might make you feel better."

Keiko walked over to Kyoko's station and sat in the customer's chair, swinging it around just slightly. "No. I had one last week." She replied, messing with one of her pigtails.

"My manicure used to get messed up in two days when I was fourteen," Kyoko insisted. "Just let me do your nails? Please? I'm so bored. I haven't had a customer for an hour now."

Keiko shook her head again. "No."

"Fine." Kyoko reached under her desk and pulled out a box. "Candy? I have peanut butter cups, Hershey's…" She dug through the box, looking for new types of candy, and pulled out a sphere covered with a powder blue foil that had a picture that looked like a 1700's portrait of an important person. "Oh! I have these. When Sakura-chan went to Europe for her exchange program last semester, she brought these back! They're called 'Mozart's Balls', I think. Dark chocolate with white chocolate in the center! Absolutely scrumptious." She waved it under Keiko's nose with pleading eyes. "Come on, Keiko-chan. You need to get your mind off of all the bad things that happened to you today."

Keiko wasn't in the mood for Kyoko's antics, and took the European confection to shut her up. She grumbled "Fine", and took off the foil to reveal the Mozart's Ball in all of its chocolate glory. Keiko bit into the candy, finding she rather liked it, and continued to munch on various chocolate candies in Kyoko's box as the woman dragged on and on about her customers throughout the day and their nervous habits while having their nails done.

About forty-five minutes passed in this fashion (although Keiko stopped eating after fifteen minutes) before Shizuru came back inside without Yamada and his partner, tossing her light brown hair on her back. "Okay, Arisa, have you found a new hairstyle?...Well, that _would_ look good on you! Probably better than it does on her. Good decision." Shizuru picked up a comb and scissors and began looking around the room before she found Keiko at Kyoko's station. "Keiko, Yamada and the other one are going back to help the movers, and they'll drop off your larger belongings in my guest room. And tonight's Chinese takeout night, does that bother you at all?"

"No." Keiko answered, not wanting to be a burden to her best friend and her new caretaker, although she had a craving for pigging out on McDonald's. "Where's Kazuma?"

Shizuru had shifted her attention to Arisa's hair, but Keiko could see her head shaking in the mirror. "He doesn't like stopping here after school. First it was for his image, now it's just because it's 'so girly it's repulsive'."

Keiko laughed again. Nothing like a best friend to work wonders for your day. "You guys have a wonderful bond."

"You only say that because you don't have a sibling. It can only be called a 'wonderful bond' when he's in a good mood and I'm not PMSing."

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"There," Shizuru said, breathless as she put Keiko's dresser into place on the wall. "As much like home as I can make it, ne, Keiko?"

"It's okay, Shizuru. I've always liked your house." Keiko replied, looking around somewhat satisfied at her new room. Shizuru's house was an old boutique in downtown Tokyo with brick walls on the inside and out, a look Keiko thought was neat and unique. The downstairs was a big kitchen and living room, with a small bathroom to the right of the counter and Kazuma's bedroom behind it all. After going up Shizuru's iron stairs was a bathroom and two bedrooms, one of them now belonging to Keiko.

Together, they looked out Keiko's window to the streets of Tokyo, with the many red lights of cars and late-night shoppers gazing into petite stores along Shizuru's street. The doorbell rang, and the pajama-clad girls ran downstairs.

Kazuma opened up the door to reveal a thin man carrying two plastic bags. "Food for Kuwabara Shizuru?"

Shizuru took out her wallet and pushed Kazuma aside, giving the man the necessary amount of cash and proudly taking the bags. Closing the door, she exclaimed, "It's Chinese time!"

She spread the food and plates on her coffee table and turned on a subtitled "Seinfeld", which Keiko knew Shizuru loved and watched loyally.

"Dammit, Shizuru, do we have to watch this again?" Kazuma complained, taking some sweet and sour pork.

"It's only on on Mondays, Kazuma. We could watch 'Pretty Woman' instead," Shizuru said, taking some rice and Mongolian beef for her plate. There was a pause. "Kazuma, did you get-"

"Yes, I got them," He answered, pulling a vase of white daisies from behind his back. "We wanted to give you these for your room," Kazuma said, a little more serious, although there seemed to be a distant look in his eye. He set the vase on the table and Keiko stared at them, studying them. "Hey, Shizuru, can I talk to you…later?" He asked with a wink.

She nodded. "I get your drift." Shizuru said, her head dropping slightly.

There was another long pause as each of them focused on their meals. Keiko, faced with silence again, tried not to think about the sudden and crazy turn her life was taking. She didn't want to think about how she'd survive.

Shizuru seemed to realize this. "Keiko, what high school are you going to go to?"

"I want to go to the all-girl school next to the school Kazuma wants to attend, but Ms. Yoshida thinks that I'd be much better at Meiou."

Kazuma made a loud and long coughing noise just after Keiko said, "Meiou." Shizuru gave him a warning glare. "Well, I was thinking, Keiko, that your parents had saved a lot of money for their retirement, and for you, and for lots of things, and most of that money is going to go to you now that…well, you have my point. Have your parents ever talked to you about Yamajiro Boarding Academy?"

"Shizuru, are you crazy?" Kazuma yelled, banging his fist on the couch arm. "Don't you remember, that's where-"

Shizuru mumbled something under her breath, obviously directed at Kazuma, and he nodded in agreement. Shizuru and Kazuma then looked at Keiko in unison for the answer.

Keiko looked up from her meal. "No,"

"Well…I guess it was their ambition to send their child there, and with your grades, you do have the ability to attend there. It's a prestigious school in the mountains, which you can tell by the name. Of course, money was always a question before. Now, you could easily attend, and if not, your grades would probably convince them to provide you with some financial aid. You know how schools are- they'll do anything for higher grades." Shizuru took a bite of beef. "Do you think you'd like it? I don't want to pressure anything on you; it's just that that's probably what your parents would have wanted."

Keiko thought about this for a minute. A boarding school wouldn't have any memories of her parents, nor any reminders, and she'd be able to get into a fine college by attending there, which would end her worries of not going to college. She did like Shizuru's home, and Tokyo, but her parents had been here, and she knew from today that she couldn't stop thinking about them. Sure, Keiko had the summer, but…somehow when she heard the name; she knew that was where she needed to go.

"Okay," Keiko answered. "I suppose I can apply for it."

**End Chapter 2**

**Note 1:** Any names of places or things I used in this chapter…I don't own them, okay?

**Note 2:** About the 90's pop culture- because Yu Yu Hakusho was originally made in the 90's, and the hairdos and clothing of various characters show that, this fic is set in the 90's, because it follows the YYH storyline except for the things I changed to make it an AU. Which means you'll have Seinfeld, perms taking over the world…and really bad rap music (Man, was 90's rap bad!).

**Note 3:** Yamajiro- Mountain Castle.

**Note 4:** So, how do you guys like my story? _Do_ you like it? I have about 55 hits for the first chapter and four reviews. So, if you are reading this, leave a review that says, "Update soon", favorite the story, put it or me on your alerts, just something so that I know that you're reading it and you like it. And I do accept anonymous reviews, so anonymous readers, review away! I love my anonymous reviewers (I was one for about six months!)!

**Note 5:** Just what is with Shizuru and Kuwabara? You'll find out...eventually.

**Mama Moose:** Yes, you must update! And soon!

**What a scene:** At your service! Aren't you lucky? I'm going to try to update weekly (depending on my homework level- I'm a freshman now, but hopefully I won't have too much. And I usually have time on the weekends anyway…), because I hate getting those reviews that say, "Grr, why won't you update?"…No, it's actually because I love this story and I want people to read it, so updating faster should do the trick.

**Shigi:** My first anonymous reviewer on my story! I love my anonymous reviewers! And your review is very nice and sweet, thank you very much! Although Yusuke (shocker!) won't appear for a while…well, not a while, just not until Keiko goes to school. Don't worry, she should be at school before chapter six, chapter seven at the latest the way I see it right now. Would you like me to e-mail you every time the story is updated?

**Bradybunch4529:** You reviewed! I'm so touched. Your reviews are always so optimistic and sweet, and they always cheer me up. Especially this one! I was worried after almost a day after putting this up that none of my CS reviewers (Or very many people) would review this, and then you did! I was completely ecstatic.

Until my next update…Federer won the U.S. Open! Woot woot!


	3. Visitation

**"Beautiful Disaster"**

**Chapter 3**

_Oh and I don't know…_

_I don't know what he's after…_

_But he's so beautiful…_

_Such a beautiful disaster…_

"Keiko?"

In her dream, Keiko saw a long, dark road with lightning overhead, that, for some odd reason, she was walking on. She could hear a slithery voice tell her not to look back, and a shadowy figure with long hair was on the other side.

"Keiko?"

Hearing her name, Keiko looked back…and saw a curving rainbow road with flying white unicorns and twinkling stars. Gambling houses were floating on either side of the road, and beings with bright hair flew about the scene.

"Keiko? It's noon."

"What?" Keiko yelled, jerking awake to gaze upon a fully dressed Kazuma, carrying volume thirteen of Ranma ½. Keiko tried to remember just what her dream was, but couldn't, much to her despair.

Kazuma scratched his head. "Shizuru's at work. She said to let you sleep until noon."

"Okay." Keiko rolled off her bed and onto the floor, getting up and tossing her blanket back on the bed. She lazily opened up her closet, taking out a pair of whitewashed capris, a bright pink shirt, and a whitewashed jean jacket when she saw the cloudy day. Looking back, Kazuma had not left the room.

He blushed when she stared at him. "I-I'm sorry. I'll go. But after you have some brunch Shizuru wanted me to take you Sarayashiki to get the application for Yamajiro. Are you up to it?" He asked, opening the door to leave.

"Um…yes, of course! No problem." Keiko answered, and Kazuma went back downstairs, closing the door. She dressed herself quickly, taking about five minutes to put on some makeup and put her chocolate-brown hair in the familiar pigtails. Keiko had put her makeup table right by the window so she could see out to Tokyo, and she found herself mesmerized after she was done makeup-applying. Never in her life had Keiko been able to appreciate the large city for being so pretty…in an urban sort of way.

Feeling the sharp emptiness in her stomach, Keiko was able to tear herself away and head downstairs, where Kazuma was reading his graphic novel on the couch. Five warm pancakes lay on the counter of the kitchen, along with butter, syrup, and, strangely enough, blue sprinkles. Keiko smiled, taking the syrup and three pancakes with her to the couch.

As Keiko ate, she looked at Kazuma a few times, studying him. She noticed he was letting out stifled laughs from time to time, as though he didn't want to laugh about whatever was so funny. She looked down at his empty plate, seeing the leftover blue sprinkles scattered around.

"Kazuma, you should really try to cheer up," Keiko said, taking a bite and staring at his seemingly stressed face. "We should go out for ice cream after we get the Yamajiro papers. I'll pay."

"Whatever," He replied, not looking up from Ranma ½. Keiko knew he didn't pass up an opportunity for free food. "But I'm not 'unhappy', okay? I don't even know where you're getting that."

Keiko gave him a disappointed look and went upstairs to get her wallet. Coming back to the living room, she finished her meal alongside him in silence.

After ten minutes, Kazuma put down his graphic novel and stood up, stretching his arms out. Keiko looked up at him, and he pointed at the door. Pigtails flying, Keiko stood up next to him and they left the little building that was their home.

As she crossed the street with Kazuma, Keiko suddenly remembered what her dream had been. While remembering each small detail, she begged to ask why she never had dreams that were sane.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Kazuma walked up to the door of Sarayashiki Junior High School and pulled on the metal handle, getting no response. He jerked even harder two more times before flapping his hands about to relieve the pain and admitting defeat. After this procedure, he banged on the door, screaming, "Is anyone in there?" as loud as a foghorn. Keiko covered her petite ears with her pigtails to block out the sound, wincing.

After a few seconds, a grey-clad janitor opened the door and pointed them in with his broom. Kazuma and Keiko entered, looking around at what was a Christmas tree without the decorations. Every teacher in the hallway they had entered in had taken their posters and excellent student works off the walls, putting them in the trash can or for safekeeping. Janitors and teachers were scampering around to make the school appear untouched. Keiko hated seeing the building like this- the hallways seemed lonely to her.

They made a right turn into a new hallway, and found a less "cleaned" hallway. Keiko saw the familiar sign for Ms. Yoshida's room and opened the door, leaving Kazuma in the hall. To Keiko's surprise, Ms. Yoshida's room wasn't much of a mess- she knew from previous years that the dean's job was to rotate the files, throwing out the eighth grade files, and doing the same on her computer. In addition, Ms. Yoshida, who was rotating files, had a few posters on her walls.

"Do you need something, Miss Yukimura?" she asked, turning her attention to Keiko. "My greatest sympathies to your losses,"

Keiko put her right hand on the desk, drumming with her fingers. "I was wondering if you had the application materials for Yamajiro Boarding Academy."

"Took my advice, ne?" Ms. Yoshida said, thrilled with Keiko's decision. She fiddled around in her desk drawers for a few moments, coming back up with a manila folder. She blew on it, making a huge cloud of dust. "Fill out the papers and take the test, and then mail it to the address at the bottom of the last test page. They'll get it back to you in at least a week, at most three weeks." Keiko nodded and took the folder, heading out of the small room. "Take care now!"

Kazuma had leaned against the wall, sinking his elbows into it and looking up at the ceiling. Keiko walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder with the folder, and he stood back up on his own. "Can I see it?" he asked.

"Sure," Keiko handed him the folder and he opened it up, flipping through the papers and mumbling to himself as they went back to the exit. He looked at the test until they got back to the door where they had entered, and then gave the folder back to Keiko.

She led him down a few blocks west of the house to a little gelato stand that was connected to a prestigious Italian restaurant. Kazuma stared at the ice cream for a while, mesmerized by its unique appearance, and then ordered the stand's most bizarre flavors rolled into one.

Keiko laughed, having ordered a simply chocolate-covered cherry flavor, and paid for it.

They sat in petite black chairs at a little black table to finish the gelato and stare at the other shoppers and cars. Keiko ate, trying to think of something to start a conversation.

She was fruitless. "So, you really want to go to that all-boy school?"

He dug into his cup and got another spoonful. "Yeah, I guess so. But I'm going to take the Kaibara test for backup. I was going to try Meiou until I found out about the uniforms."

Keiko raised an eyebrow. "What? Are they bad?"

He let Keiko see a slight smile. "The girls wear short red skirts with black socks, and the boys…they wear 'magenta', which is basically pink."

Keiko almost choked on a bite because of Kazuma's never-ending quest to be the manliest man in Tokyo. "Pink isn't your color, Kazuma?"

"I've seen the kids who wear the Meiou uniforms," Kazuma replied, with stifled laughter. "They look like the biggest pansies on the face of the Earth. And Meiou cracks down hard on you if you don't wear them, so that omits my blue jumpsuit."

Keiko nodded. "But is a uniform really that big of a deal?"

Kazuma didn't respond, leaving Keiko to remember that his pride was the most important thing in his life. There was a long silence, and in this time, they finished their gelato.

After throwing away her cup, Keiko looked over to Kazuma as she picked up the folder. "Did that make you feel any better?"

He smiled at her, somewhat graciously. "I don't know why, but I think it did,"

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

_"Mendel's experiment on pea plants helped him to get his nickname in the science world, the…"_

Keiko banged her pencil on her desk in frustration. She knew this one! Mendel was called the "father" of a branch of science, which was somehow lost in Keiko's mind. Mendel, Mendel, Mendel…usually, when Keiko heard a scientist's name, she thought immediately of his branch. All she could draw up for Mendel was "pea plant experiment", and "beginning of school year".

Breathing slowly, Keiko calmed herself down ever-so-slightly. Using another idea to jog her memory, Keiko wondered if the pea plant part had anything to do with the area of science. Pea plants…botany…Mendel…no, that didn't seem right. Biology…no, Mendel wasn't a biologist. Damn it! She needed to remember this!

Pea plants…peas…food…health? No, health isn't an area of science, you dolt! Keiko screamed in her head. What did he study?

And suddenly, her mind decided to stop tantalizing her, and the answer was dropped in front of her eyes immediately. She wrote it down, repeating it to herself.

Genetics. Gregor Mendel was the Father of Genetics.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Keiko stood on wobbly legs at the front of the line, her knee-length black dress swaying from the various fans around the room. Her hair was down for this event: Keiko couldn't remember the last time she didn't wear her pigtails, and people commented about it as they hugged her or shook her hand, some with tears streaming down their faces. The whole scene in the stuffy room made Keiko more unhappy than she had ever been: The constant memories of her parents' lives from the pictures on the walls, the thought of their ashes lying in the ground of the cemetery (The cremators couldn't wait), and the others, over a hundred others, just like her, teary-eyed and black clad in the hot, hot room.

Keiko couldn't stand it.

"My greatest sympathies, Yukimura-san," greeted another stranger to Keiko as she shook her hand. "For the rest of my life I'll long for the taste of their diner cuisine,"

Keiko nodded, letting the now meaningless words, "And so will I," spill out of her mouth.

The line was held up while one of Keiko's former teachers from Sarayashiki gazed at the family portraits, so she looked to see just how long the line was. Keiko had stopped crying just a few minutes ago, and she wasn't sure how long she could go without bursting into tears again. Thankfully, there were about twenty more people, and the doors were closing, indicating that no more people would be allowed in.

"Yukimura-san, you were such a good student in my math class. I hope that you can make it through this and become something great. You didn't deserve to become an orphan, Yukimura-san," Her seventh grade math teacher said, hugging her. The mention of her orphanhood threatened to make her cry, but she just barely held back her tears. The embrace ended, and the lady went out through the double doors.

She met nineteen more people in the same fashion, some she didn't even know, and a select few, such as Principal Takenaka, who knew her well and cried upon seeing her. When the remaining visitors had left, Shizuru and Kazuma, both in formal black attire, began to take the pictures off the easel-like display boards and put them in a simple red box.

Keiko looked around the empty room and emotionally collapsed. She fell into Shizuru's embrace, bawling like a newborn now that no one was watching. Over her friend's shoulder, she saw Kazuma, his eyes watery, but then he looked to the floor.

She stayed like this for what seemed for hours, but, as the clock told her, was really just seven minutes. Shizuru finally let her go.

"Let's go home now, okay? This funeral home is only going to make you feel worse. I got some pizza, too- I know it's your favorite. And lots of ice cream."

Keiko blew her nose with her handkerchief and nodded. "Thank you."

"Mmm hmm. It's no problem." She replied, patting Keiko's back and leading her out to the car.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Keiko walked lazily back to her makeup table as she combed her wet hair. Her legs were extremely tired, although getting hugged and cried on hadn't required much walking. Finished with her combing, she tossed her blue comb, with minimal effort, on the makeup table.

Caught up with preparing for the visitation, Keiko hadn't been able to check her mail, which Shizuru had conveniently placed on her desk for the past week. Keiko picked up the small pile, opening three fewer sympathy cards than the day before. Most of today's cards were from out-of-town friends of her parents.

However, underneath these papers was a bulky, white package that caught Keiko's attention. She looked at the return address, which was "Yamajiro Boarding Academy" in large blue print. Filled with hope, she opened the package to first pull out a simple letter.

_Miss Yukimura Keiko, _

_Yamajiro__Boarding__Academy__ is proud to tell you that you have been accepted for this year's incoming class! This means that your admittance test results were among the top __twenty to ten__ percent, depending on the number of applications. _

_Enclosed with this acceptance letter are the necessary papers for paying for your tuition, choosing your classes, and some extra information about campus life. We congratulate you on your acceptance and hope to see you soon._

_Sincerely,_

_Yoshi Abe _

_Academy President _

Keiko gave a weary smile, setting the paper down on her desk and staggering into bed. She'd tell Shizuru in the morning.

**End Chapter 3**

**Note 1:** Kaibara High School is a shout out to Fruits Basket, another one of my favorite mangas.

**Note 2:** I don't own Fruits Basket or Ranma ½, but I do love them to pieces! If you haven't read Ranma, please do. It's ten times better than stupid InuYasha, which I also don't own.

**Note 3:** Thanks to all the people who reviewed and put this story on their story alert! I'm very grateful for your attention and I hope that you'll give me another review or at least put another hit on the hit counter. It's official now: Keiko will be at school by chapter 5.

**Note 4:** I'm continuing review replies, because I haven't got in trouble yet, and it's not an official rule. In fact, review replies are allowed. Besides, I love you guys too much! You deserve to be talked to.

**Fallen Seraphim Azarael:** Oh, isn't that mystery fun? And you get a million virtual hugs and cookies for being a fellow Federer fan! (I'm dancing with you! Woot!) Admit it, other reviewers: You love him too!

**What a Scene:** Playing ping pong in P.E. is punishment enough…

**Tsukigana:** Trust me, I can't wait either. These chapters are truly boring to write.

**Bradybunch4529:** A new level? Wow, that makes me feel really good. I never thought I had really good character skills…but I think I just killed the slow building, sorry. But then again…I'm not sure I did that, considering how this plot is going…

**Mama Moose:** Money and candy…vital parts of my life.

**Moonlight Fenix:** Really? I'm the first? I feel so honored! Thanks for adding me to all those things, I really appreciate it.

**Shigi:** You reviewed again! Yes! I always worry about losing my wonderful anonymous reviewers. And I'll give you plenty of Yusuke, I promise!

**Min:** Botan will be here before Yusuke: Right now, I'm predicting chapter five, which is also when Yukina will come in. Thanks for the compliment on my plot! I didn't think it was that good just going into it, but it'll get much better than this!

Until my next update, a question: Will I ever go a chapter without talking about tennis?...That's a tough one for me, too.


	4. Sundays

**"Beautiful Disaster"**

**Chapter 4**

_And if I try to save him..._

_My whole world could cave in…_

_It just ain't right…_

_Just ain't right…_

She woke up the next morning feeling somewhat tired, but she forced herself out of bed, knowing that Shizuru would be leaving for work in no time. Keiko grabbed the package off her desk and went to her closet. She put on a robe, since she wasn't planning on leaving the house today, and went downstairs.

Shizuru had made cinnamon rolls and was now munching on one on the couch, her legs crossed fashionably. She had the newspaper laid out in front of her and was reading it contently. Keiko went over to the kitchen counter and got herself her own cinnamon roll and sat down beside her, reading over her shoulder about some American celebrity and their crumbling marriage.

"Shizuru?" Keiko asked, taking the letter out of the package again to show her. There was no audible reply.

Keiko nudged her shoulder and Shizuru jumped, looking over. "What?"

She flashed the paper in front of her and Shizuru snatched it, reading over it like a madwoman. She finally hugged Keiko, yelling, "You got in! You got in!" She stopped when Keiko pointed to Kazuma's door, which was opening slowly to reveal Kazuma with bedhead and a serious morning temper.

"Holy crap, Shizuru, there are some people who like to sleep!" Kazuma slammed his door and sauntered over to the counter for his breakfast, sitting across from his sister.

"How can you sleep on a day like this? Keiko got in to this place- and can pay! Oh, dammit, if it weren't a Wednesday…" Shizuru sighed longingly and looked up to the ceiling, going into such a dreamlike state that she chewed her next bite with her mouth slightly open.

"No, Shizuru, you have to work. And once you do go on those crazy escapades to get Keiko ready, I won't be following you. And I'm not filling out the papers either." Kazuma said, looking away from the scene in disgust.

"Well, of course you'll come with us! Are you crazy, Kazuma? We need someone to carry our bags!" Shizuru exclaimed, now chewing with her mouth closed. "And I have to fill out the papers this time…hey, that was once!"

Kazuma groaned. "Fine…"

Shizuru smirked and stood up, ripping her calendar off the wall and bringing it down to Keiko, who smiled at their sibling quarrel. "Well, let's see…this Sunday, we can pick your classes and check out the campus life," She pointed at the coming Sunday's square on the calendar, and then on the next Sundays, "The Sunday after that we can fill out the payment papers, the Sunday after that we can buy your uniforms and your new wardrobe-"

"New wardrobe?" Keiko asked, seeming irate about the idea, "Is something wrong with my _current_ wardrobe?"

Shizuru laughed. "I can't change your taste, but I can at least get you some new clothes. And we have to give those rich kids a run for their money."

Keiko heaved a long sigh, but let Shizuru continue.

"The next Sunday, we'll spend the whole day getting you a lovely kimono-"

"It doesn't take a whole day to buy a kimono!" Keiko and Kazuma yelled in unison.

Shizuru rolled her eyes. "Keiko, you're a high school girl now- I think I need to teach you some lessons in womanhood. Lesson number fifteen: It takes as long as it takes to find a suitable outfit for a formal event."

"But something that takes that long to buy must have a big price tag on it!" Keiko protested.

"Lesson number two: Men are from Mars, women are from Visa. It's on me,"

She frowned at Shizuru's statement, but waved her arm in a signal to continue.

"And the next Sunday, we'll get your hair done,"

Keiko's eyes lit up with fear. "You're going to _change_ my hairstyle?" She couldn't remember a time in her life when she hadn't had those familiar farmer-girl pigtails. There had to be some sort of law against changing it now.

Shizuru smirked again. "I've been dying to for years. Might I give you lesson number thirty?"

"No…I guess I can trust you,"

"The Sunday after that, we'll buy furniture for your dorm, and the last Sunday of them all…we'll get your nails done. And Kyoko will give you a little kit and teach you how to use it so you can do your own nails." Shizuru had apparently finished her list, and beamed with pride. Despite this, there was an awkward silence for a few minutes.

"But, Shizuru…I don't care about my nails. Or having new clothes." Keiko protested again, quietly.

Shizuru's head fell, and she looked rather disheartened. "Well…it would mean a lot to me. You know I didn't have dolls when I was little, and Kazuma here decided to be XY instead of XX…if you know what I mean..."

Keiko gave a small sigh. "Okay. I suppose I could. But you do know that if this is the Wednesday of the second week of June, then all this business will be finished by the first week of August…"

"And, school starts the second week of August." Shizuru finished, pointing at her calendar. "So it all works out perfectly." She put her calendar down and began to fish through Keiko's package, randomly pulling up her black purse. Shizuru paused, looking at certain things, and would then look for some other document. Keiko fancied her enthusiasm, even though she knew it was because Shizuru had always used Keiko as her life-size doll. She could see it in stores now: Boarding School Keiko- with her new friend, Boarding School Yumi! Keiko smiled at the thought.

"Shizuru, if you haven't noticed, your shop is supposed to open in five minutes," Kazuma said quietly, with stifled laughter.

His sister looked at the wall clock; a circular black clock with a neon red light wrapped around it, and ran for the door. "Well, um, have fun today! Get some sleep! Bye!"

Kazuma shook his head and turned on the television, looking for an action movie. Keiko finished her cinnamon roll and decided that she did, indeed, need a nap. Pulling a nearby blanket over her, she fell asleep to the sound of an unknown Bruce Lee flick and Kazuma's gaping mouth.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

"So…here's the right paper!"

Shizuru, with glee, pulled out from the package a paper with Keiko's class choices. "It has five marked for you- I think that's based off of your intelligence. So…you have the highest biology class, the highest world history class, and an advanced literature class…wow, Keiko! You got put in a sophomore class for math!"

Keiko raised a brow. She sat to Shizuru's right on the couch. "How so, Shizuru?"

Shizuru toyed with a nearby strand of hair. "Don't ask me: All it says is 'Geometry 2', and on the little key, '2' means a sophomore class."

Keiko nodded. "So, are all those the classes I'm forced to have?"

"No. You're also taking an English class."

"High or low?"

"All levels."

"Mmm Hmm." Keiko tugged slightly on the right side of the paper, now looking at her electives. "How many electives can I have?"

"One if you value free time, two if you like work."

"Well, let's see what they have," Keiko looked all over the paper at the electives, which she found to be some of the craziest classes around. Ballroom dancing and glassblowing were two of the wackiest, while ancient history and extended science courses were somewhat normal. Keiko couldn't see anything she liked.

"Did you see the foreign languages, Keiko?" Shizuru asked, pointing to a giant stack of additional languages. "How about Spanish? I hear that one's easy."

Keiko sighed. "Nothing seems really intriguing, or that it would be mandatory for the job I want. I'll just have a study hall."

She wondered immediately if that was a good choice.

"Okay, let's get out this little thing about campus life…" Shizuru pulled out a series of papers stapled together and began reading. "They've already decided your dorm for you! That's cheap…but at least they aren't co-ed. Boys and girls are on completely different sides of the building. My college was co-ed…"

"So, do they have a picture of my dorm?" Keiko asked.

Shizuru flipped through the papers. "Actually, they do!" She showed it to Keiko, who nodded. "I like it. The walls are red, and the carpet's black. I wonder if the interior designer's single…"

"If it's going to look like that, I'll be homesick in seconds," Keiko said, nervousness in her voice.

"No you won't! I think you'll be fine. So, based on that, how do you want to decorate your room?"

"Uhh…how about ancient Japanese?"

"Sure." Shizuru flipped through the other pages, reading each one. "Says that there's no gym class, but you can walk in to recreation classes throughout the day. That's pretty fair."

"Really? I think I'll be too stunned to go to those."

"That's why they invented radios- dance anywhere, anytime."

"I suppose." Keiko said, looking at the clock. "Does it say anything about my dorm mates?"

Shizuru shook her head. "No names yet, apparently. But it says you'll have two."

There was a silence as Shizuru finished reading the last page of the packet. "That was pretty uninformative. Don't bother reading it."

Keiko just nodded. "What's for lunch?"

"Eh, I don't know. How about a salad?"

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Can I _please_ be left at home? Please? I'll do anything Shizuru. Anything!" Kazuma wasn't quite on his hands and knees, but was pleading with his sister eagerly so not to go shopping with Shizuru and Keiko. "I know what you do to me when you go shopping. Please!"

"Geez, the way you're talking, I make you try on bras when we go shopping. Get in the car." Shizuru rolled her eyes and pointed to her red Taurus.

"You _did_ make me try on bras!" He protested, waving his arms.

"Yes, I did, when I was twelve. How many years has it been? Just get in the car. Keiko's waiting."

He groaned and got in the back seat with Keiko, who looked out the window vacantly.

"According to this little paper, there's a shop in Tokyo for uniforms pretty close to here. After that, we head to the teenage thrift store where Kyoko's daughter works, and then to the downtown mall."

"Why are we going to the thrift store?" Keiko questioned, her words slow in suspicion.

"Drop off all your old clothes…well, except for the underwear, bras, and sleepwear, and get cash for them." Shizuru replied. "And then we use that cash to get you a whole new wardrobe for boarding school."

The image of "Boarding School Keiko" came into her head again.

In about five minutes, Shizuru parallel-parked beside AAA High School Uniforms and then got out of the car, Keiko and Kazuma following close behind. A worker opened the door for them, the ding of a bell echoing throughout the shop.

Keiko had never seen so many diverse school uniforms in her life, and she would have wandered around in amazement if it wasn't her that she was shopping for.

"Can I help you?" The worker, a short and squeaky-voiced college girl, asked Shizuru.

"My friend here is going to Yamajiro. We hear you've got the uniforms," Shizuru pointed to Keiko. The worker nodded.

"Ah, yes! Yes! Right this way, miss," She replied, pointing to the back of the store. Keiko followed shyly.

The worker held up a uniform for Keiko to see, correctly assuming Keiko had not seen the uniform. Keiko didn't mind it: It was a white blouse with elbow-length sleeves and a powder blue knee-length skirt. The worker held up the socks and shoes next, the socks being the same color as the skirt and the shoes a white version of her middle school shoes.

"What size are you?" The worker asked.

Keiko gave a look at the uniform she had held up, which was identified by the hanger as a large. "Small."

She was given a small and directed to the dressing room. She changed, and came out to look in the larger mirror. Keiko didn't like the way she looked in it: it was an awfully juvenile look.

Shizuru and Kazuma came over to see the uniform. "I wouldn't worry about it," She said, "With the hairdo you're getting, you'll look fine. Promise,"

Keiko gave a passive nod and went back in the dressing room to take it off. Once she put every piece outside the door, she could hear Shizuru taking it up to the counter. And now that Shizuru had mentioned her new hairdo, she began worrying about it again.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Keiko followed Shizuru into the hair salon, toying with her wet pigtails and savoring the last few moments she'd have them. Shizuru had commented previously that she acted like she was going to the guillotine, but Keiko was just a little scared. She didn't even know what she looked like without pigtails, or the current hair length she had.

Shizuru swung the door open with glee. "Today's the day, girls!"

The customers looked at Shizuru oddly, but all of the workers jumped up and down excitedly. "Oh, don't worry Keiko; we picked out a great hairstyle!" One of the hairstylists, Akasuki, yelled to Keiko.

"Yeah, we even took your head and put cutouts of hairstyles on it!" A manicurist, Hisa, informed her, waving up a small paper that was most likely Keiko's head with her hairstyle on it. Kyoko, next to Hisa, giggled excitedly. Keiko only wished she could see the picture.

Shizuru led Keiko to her personal desk and had her sit down. "I washed your hair at home so we could get straight to business here. Now, I need Murasaki."

Murasaki, a rather quiet but artsy stylist, came over to Shizuru with a piece of a purple bandanna with strips of masking tape on either side. She put the bandanna over Keiko's eyes, pressing the tape onto her face, and left to style her customer.

Shizuru took the scrunchies out of Keiko's wet hair and got to work. For what seemed like hours, Keiko heard and felt combing and snipping, and the excited squeals and yells from the other stylists as they looked over from their work for a few seconds to watch. Keiko suddenly heard the snipping stop, and a hair dryer began to blow warm air onto her tresses. Soon, that stopped, as well as all the other workers.

Footsteps came over to Shizuru's desk, and Keiko assumed it was Murasaki. She felt the first piece of tape rip off her face, then the second, and then Keiko could see again. Shizuru was behind her, one hand on her hip with a pleased smirk on her face.

Keiko found that Shizuru was right- she was far better looking than before. The lowest part of her hair was shoulder-length, and the rest went up like stairs until it got to her bangs. The style made her hair seem more present, and she realized she looked ten times as mature. She gave a small smile and the entire salon clapped and cheered.

Hisa ran over to Keiko, her bobbed orange hair flying. She shoved the cut-and-paste picture on to the desk. "See, Keiko? That's what we thought it would look like. But it looks so much better! Shizuru's a genius, ne, Keiko?"

Shizuru set down her scissors on her desk, making a loud bang. "And _that's_ how you do it,"

**End Chapter 4**

** Note 1: **I don't own Bruce Lee, or anything I've mentioned that isn't mine in this chapter.

**Note 2:** Oh, the drama of Keiko getting her hair cut! Yah, if this chapter seems corny, just know it was funny to me. Sort of. And while I was googling Keiko to find out how to describe her cute hairdo, I found the most adorable picture of her like she looks at the end of the series and Yusuke dressed in a ramen shop uniform! I died of the cuteness. And then I cried because the link was broken.

**Note 3:** If you reviewed chapter two, would you mind reviewing some more of the chapters you read? Or, once again, the favorite system? Just so I know you're still interested. I'm also sorry about the slower than usual update. Blame homecoming and a bad case of laziness.

**Tsukigana:** Note in this chapter that Keiko has two roommates! And Hiei will be in here, yes, there'll actually be a Hiei/Keiko friendship thinger going on. Although I doubt Hiei would admit to being anyone's friend…

**Shigi:** Thank you!

**What A Scene:** Acck, ping pong is boring. Now we're playing paddleball- color me thrilled. How do you like the chapters?

**Bradybunch4529:** He's such a sweetie. I love the scene where Yukina heals him after the quarterfinals. And thanks again for the sweet compliments!

**TheBigW:** Damn straight he's better than anyone! (Cookies for being a fan!) My friends and family are still appalled when I say I don't like Roddick.

Until my next update…I have to read Lord of the Flies. Boring, boring book.


	5. Drop Off

"**Beautiful Disaster"**

**Chapter 5**

_Oh and I don't know…_

_I don't know what he's after…_

_But he's so beautiful…_

_Such a beautiful disaster…_

"This truck is dirty," Keiko complained, toying with a nasty wad of pink bubble gum on her seat. "How much money did you have to pay to rent this piece of junk?"

Shizuru kept her eyes on the road, but responded. "It's not that bad, Keiko. The only reason you're noticing it is because you're nervous about your new school." She grinded her teeth as she pulled hard on the wheel to make a turn in the tattered, red truck. Kazuma, who was sleeping, almost fell on Keiko, but came up again when the turn was complete. She almost smiled, seeing gum from the seat stuck in his hair that he worked so hard to keep tidy.

"And this road's making me nervous," Keiko continued, to no one in particular as she stared out the window. "How many times have you driven in the mountains, Shizuru?"

"I passed my driver's ed class with flying colors." Shizuru said, lifting her chin in pride.

"That wasn't my question,"

"It doesn't matter if I haven't driven on a-"

"You haven't?" Keiko shrieked, just as they rounded another sharp corner on the edge of the mountain. "Why didn't you just get a taxi…"

"Eh, we'll be fine, don't worry about it. It's easy."

Keiko looked through the back window to make sure her things were still there- primarily her brand new furniture. Satisfied, she stared at the back of Shizuru's seat again, bored out of her mind. It was no use complaining with Shizuru anymore, and she'd listened to so much music her ears were practically bleeding.

She thought about reading, but Keiko knew the only reading material in the car was Kazuma's Shounen Jump, which Keiko had tried to read once and hated it. Keiko opened up her bag and fumbled with her things, looking for something remotely interesting to do.

She found another letter from Yamajiro she hadn't had time to read, and opened it. It was her schedule…and her roommates.

Keiko looked at her schedule first.

7:00 Wake-up Call (Anyone waking up earlier than this may not leave their rooms)

Seven o'clock? Keiko mused. That was lenient.

7:45 Breakfast (Attended in uniforms or sleepwear)

This is late as well, she thought. What was she to do for all this time?

8:30 First Period- Biology WATANABE Floor 1 Room 6

9:30 Second Period- Literature SASAKI Floor 1 Room 11

10:30 Third Period- Geometry ABE Floor 2 Room 3

11:30 Fourth Period- Study Hall ITO Floor 4 Room 7

12:30 Lunch (Attended in uniforms on weekdays, normal clothing on weekends)

She frowned when she read this. A 12:30 lunch? That was certainly a late lunch, and Keiko was bound to get hungry before then. Maybe snacks were allowed in Study Hall…

1:00 Fifth Period- English MARUYAMA Floor 2 Room 9

2:00 Sixth Period- World History OSHIRO Floor 4 Room 5

6:30 Dinner (Attended in uniforms, sleepwear, or normal clothing)

10:30 Curfew (Unless in study room)

Looking over it again, Keiko found she didn't really have any problems with her schedule. Not that she could- she didn't know what the classes were like, nor her teachers. It seemed like she'd have a feasible schedule as far as going around the school was concerned.

She flipped over that page and found her roommates' names printed in capital letters.

KIKUCHI BOTAN Year: 1

MURAKAMI YUKINA Year: 2

Pretty names, Keiko thought, hoping she wouldn't shudder at thinking such a thought in the future. She was glad to have another first year in the dorm with her: Maybe they could do some studying together.

She felt eyes staring at her back and looked up, seeing an awakened Kazuma looking over her shoulder. He was muttering something to himself, which told Keiko he was at the top of the paper, reading about discipline in the dormitories.

"Murakami and Kikuchi, eh? And only a first year? You would think…" He said, trailing off.

"What? Please continue, Kazuma," Keiko asked.

"It's nothing," He answered, scratching his head sleepily. "I was just musing about a memory as I read and my thoughts got mixed up. Nothing important."

"Hmm." Keiko put the papers back in the envelope and looked out the window for the first time in about fifteen minutes. She realized, as she saw a small town, that Yamajiro Boarding Academy was getting closer. "How much longer, Shizuru?"

"We're driving through the town of Kyuujou right now, and Yamajiro is just outside the town of Kanameishi, so…I'd say, half an hour."

Keiko felt butterflies in her stomach. Now that she was so close, even if Shizuru and Kazuma were all she had, she didn't want to go anymore. What if her roommates didn't like her? Or her teachers? All sorts of things could go wrong, and Keiko would have no one. No parents, no Shizuru. The very thought filled her with fear.

"I can feel your tension in the air, Keiko," Shizuru warned, "Lighten up,"

Keiko scratched her chin and muttered something to herself, which Shizuru saw through one of the mirrors in the truck. "Stop that! I'm a psychic, Keiko, and I can prove it."

"Chinny," Keiko grunted.

"Aww, cheer up, please, Keiko?...Kazuma, give her the food."

"Do I have-"

"Yes."

Kazuma dug into his bag and pulled out two Hershey's bars, which he handed to Keiko. Her eyes widened, and she took the two bars, savoring them so that they lasted half an hour.

Just as she ate the last section, Shizuru was driving around the parking lot of the Academy, looking for a spot. Keiko looked back and found herself staring at a huge, white stone building that looked like a Japanese castle…well, except for the stone part. The roofs were blue, and the building, Keiko guessed, probably looked like a cross from the sky. In the middle, her chart had said, were the dining hall, classrooms, and the dorms of the teachers, and on her nearest side, the boy's dormitories and courtyards. The girl's dormitories and courtyards were on the right side, and the school shops required a trip to Kanameishi.

Kazuma's mouth dropped to the floor as he looked at the complex. "Holy-y-y-y…shit."

Shizuru smiled as she parked the truck in a spot conveniently located right by the Academy. "Big, isn't it? That's where Keiko'll be staying to the right." She pointed to the girl's dormitories.

"And...what about the guys?" He asked.

"What, you think Keiko's going to get molested? They're on the completely other side of the building. I swear, Kazuma…you're a real doofus."

"Shut up, Shizuru!" Kazuma yelled, unfastening his seatbelt and almost lunging at the front seat where his sister sat. Only a sliver of self-control- and past incidents- kept him in his place.

"I'm really going to miss the two of you fighting," Keiko said quietly, and they suddenly stopped, lost in thought about how someone could miss hearing them fight. She smiled simply, and walked out of the truck with her bag.

They followed, and Shizuru took Keiko's bag full of clothes and bedding. Kazuma called a few janitors over, who were apparently waiting to assist new students, and they began carrying Keiko's dresser and jewelry table up to her dormitory.

"Well…" Shizuru began, "Shall we follow them?"

Keiko sighed and nodded. "I suppose."

They walked through the gigantic, double doors of the Academy and over to the stairs that led to the second floor of the ladies' dormitories. Keiko's room faced the fields around the school, and seemed like a long walk as they toted her heavy bags.

Keiko's eyes scanned the dormitory as she walked around in it. The other two girls had already been here, and their things were set up. In the area belonging to the girl of the middle bed was a pink makeup table, across the room from her bed, with photos across the mirror of smiling girls donning beautiful kimonos. Three lovely written hiragana symbols on paper sheets spelled "Botan" across the top, indicating its owner. On Botan's bed were pink sheets with a blue-haired doll in a pink kimono tucked in for bed.

The last bed Keiko assumed belonged to Murasaki Yukina. Her sheets were powder blue, as well as her simple dresser, on the same wall as Botan's. She kept a single photograph on her dresser, which Keiko wasn't paying enough attention to realize some familiar faces smiling back at her.

"Not to interrupt you or anything, Keiko, but where do you want your furniture?" Kazuma asked to break the silence.

Keiko jumped. "Oh! My makeup table can go on the same wall as those other dressers, and my dresser can go next to my closet."

Kazuma and the remaining janitor put her furniture in place, carefully. The janitor, after saluting Keiko, left the room.

"Hey, Shizuru, can I go see…" Kazuma made a strange motion with his hand and Shizuru nodded. Her younger brother proceeded to leave the room, just as the janitor did.

Shizuru smirked at Keiko. "Ready?"

Keiko nodded. "Yeah."

Keiko's white, wooden makeup table became adorned with her various hair and makeup products, and over the mirror Shizuru placed a miniature roof taken from a model of the Himeji Castle. Atop her matching dresser she put the photographs she had salvaged from her home and her little geisha doll, standing on a bridge also taken from the castle model. Her new boom box lay next to her bed.

After this was finished, Keiko relocated her clothes into her closet and her dresser, while Shizuru put dark blue sheets on her bed. After all this was finished, they stood back and stared at the room, which with its varying colors looked like a scoop of Neapolitan ice cream.

There was a long silence as they realized that the time was drawing nearer for Shizuru to go back home with Kazuma, and Keiko would be left here, by herself until her roommates returned. Keiko wondered again if Shizuru was confident in her guardian abilities, as she sometimes thought for minutes before she said something insightful to Keiko.

"Well…if you need anything, just call. Actually, I wouldn't mind you calling just for the hell of it, but I suppose you'll be having too much fun with school to call. And if you want to complain, just tell me, and I'll put Kazuma on the line, and…what else will you need? If you want anything from home, just call, and I can probably get some nail colors off of Kyoko, and…oh! I have to sign you in, don't I? Umm-"

Keiko had never seen Shizuru so…panicked. Was that the word? She couldn't put a word on her emotion, but it was very un-Shizuru.

"I'm sorry Keiko…I just got used to you always being around, and…you know how that is," Was she about to cry? Keiko did not want to see her cry, especially over her.

She walked over to Shizuru and hugged her, which she wasn't sure she would like, but it was the only thing she could think of. "You should go sign me in…it's almost 6:00."

She nodded solemnly as she headed for the door. "All right…but you'll call, won't you?"

"Of course!"

She heard a half-sob, half-spoken word, "Bye Keiko!" as Shizuru left, and it saddened her even more when she found herself alone in her room.

It didn't last long, however, as the door flew open and two ecstatic girls came in. One was medium-sized, in a pretty pink kimono with long, flowing sleeves and blue hair in a high ponytail, her purple- wait a minute, Keiko thought, purple? And blue hair?- eyes twinkling with happiness. Keiko realized that she was a life-size version of the doll tucked in to Botan's bed.

The girl next to her was considerably shorter, dressed in a blue and white kimono that Keiko fancied especially. Her sea-green locks were tied with a red barrette that matched the color of her eyes perfectly.

Man, did Keiko feel like a plain Jane.

"So, Yukina-san," Said the tall, blue-haired girl, "I suppose this is our last musketeer! I'm Kikuchi Botan- I have the bed in the middle, if you haven't noticed by my little twin,"

"I'm Murakami Yukina," Yukina trembled over her surname and gave a small, timid bow to Keiko, "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Botan squealed. "Isn't she cute? I've only known her for about an hour, but she's so respectful to everyone…so, what's your name?"

Keiko blushed and took a hand to her chin. "Yukimura…Keiko."

"Keiko-san? Pretty name, if I say so myself! So, do you have a kimono?" Botan asked, still carrying that catlike smile on her face.

"Well, yes, but why?" Keiko said. Just after finishing, she wondered if the kimono-clad girls in the photographs had anything to do with the query.

"Oh. It is rude of me, isn't it? I…I don't know, I guess I like to see people in kimonos. It makes me feel more at home. And I'm sure you look dashing in yours!" The seemingly permanent smile of Botan's was gone for about two seconds, but it was soon back as she finished her monologue. Keiko went to her closet and retrieved her scarlet red kimono its hanger and changed behind her screen, coming out so Botan and Yukina could see. The tiny golden flowers on the fabric shone under the light, as well as the metallic gold obi.

"You certainly give me a run for my money," Botan said, with a laugh.

"It fits on you nicely, Keiko-san," said Yukina.

Keiko twirled for a moment, finding she indeed did think herself pretty in the kimono. But, girls will be girls, and girls always fish. "Are you sure?"

Botan smiled. "Of course!...Oh dear-"

"Attention students. Dinner will be starting in five minutes in the dining hall, on the second floor of the building's core. Dinner in five minutes." The intercom blared the message in the halls, as well as in the girls' room.

"I suppose we should go," Keiko mused to herself, walking towards the door. "Yukina, if you're a second year, do you know what the food is like?"

She shook her head. "I'm sure it can't be bad,"

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Keiko found after just a few hours of knowing Botan and Yukina that she knew everything about them, and they seemed so close. Botan was rather outgoing and wasn't afraid to talk about anything anytime, especially at the dinner table, and she liked things both old and new. Yukina was soft-spoken, but kind and untouched by any of the world's evils, so it seemed, and appreciated anything she was given. Keiko liked them already, and knew she'd be fine in her dorm.

"I think that guy across the table was staring at you, Keiko," hollered Botan from the bathroom. "He seemed pretty interested in your bust."

Keiko stepped out from behind her screen and began to unmake her bed. "And I thought smart people came to boarding schools."

Botan, her hair flowing down to her waist, came out of the bathroom. "Of course smart people come to boarding schools! But those are the girls. They boys paid their way in,"

"Attention students, it is 10:30. Please return to your rooms and keep quiet if you are staying awake." As another message came via intercom, Keiko wondered if it would be the cornerstone of her new life.

"Goodnight, Keiko-san, Botan-san," Yukina said sleepily, and then closing her eyes to rest.

"Sweet dreams, Yukina-san," Botan and Keiko answered in unison.

Although she shut her eyes, Keiko found she couldn't sleep. She swore…no, she knew there were people talking outside her window. She heard voices, raspy voices, talking in whispers she could hardly decipher. She picked out from the various monologues "she", "girl", "jewels", and "money", but every other word was gibberish.

And then, suddenly, she heard a strange noise, like the noise heard when a racquet swung through the air with great speed, and the voices were silent. Keiko then heard things being picked up, and after that…nothing. Nothing at all.

Keiko was frightened, but sleep overtook her too quickly after that for her fear to grow larger.

**End Chapter 5**

**EDIT: Fixed certain sentences and dialogues to correctly portray Botan. I wanted to show that she was unexposed to human life, but I failed to realize I was butchering her character/taking it too far. And, being a Botan fan, I had to fix it when I got a review telling me about it. So…with the edit, I hope Botan's in character now. **

**Note 1:** Sorry about the slow update- this time, blame a project. Rest assured that I will not pull an update-once-a-month routine on you guys like I did in my last two projects. That I promise.

**Note 2:** Go Cardinals! If you aren't on the Cardinal bandwagon, get on, people!

**Note 3:** And so…the real story begins. Why is Botan obsessed with kimonos? What did Kuwabara want to see? And who's outside Keiko's window? I think it's obvious, but hey…I tried.

**Tsukigana:** Hiei's so much fun that way, with his stubbornness. I like stubborn guys- I have a common trait with them!

**Spede:** I like the "Cheers!" at the end of your reviews. The reason Yusuke is at Yamajiro is…a huge spoiler. All in good time (And your fave Keiko hairdo is her current one!). And I just love the Kuwabara siblings, so I'm glad to hear I'm doing a good job!

**What a Scene:** And now…ultimate Frisbee. It makes me too sweaty, but it's fun. The big meeting is next chapter!

**TheBigW:** Gotta love RZ for her roles in Chicago and Down With Love, though. Pass/Fail? Not sure about that one, and about the uniform…I wore a uniform for camp, and I…bended the rules about it, but it still didn't satisfy me, so no.

**Shigi:** I know how you feel.

**Bradybunch4529:** Screaming into the night? Wow. Oh, and as I said earlier, next chapter's the big meeting!

Until my next update…I didn't talk about tennis! Oh dear- someone, strike up a tennis-related conversation!


	6. Meetings

**"Beautiful Disaster"**

**Chapter 6**

_He drowns in his dreams…_

_An exquisite extreme, I know…_

_He's as damned as he seems…_

_With more heaven than a, heart could hold…_

Keiko awoke to a large, annoying bell blaring through the intercom on their wall. Tiredly she put her feet on the floor next to her bed, wincing at the sound. She saw on the opposite end of the room that Yukina had a similar reaction, and was using a pillow to block out the sound as she sauntered to her dresser. Botan stretched with a carefree smile, as though she was used to a wake-up call.

Remembering faintly that she had forty-five minutes to waste before breakfast, Keiko walked over to her own dresser and pulled out her uniform, laying each piece on her bed. She then picked them all up and started to head for the bathroom.

Halfway there, she remembered she wasn't home anymore.

"Oh, um…is anyone else planning on taking a shower before breakfast?" She asked, looking around at the room.

"I took a shower last night, before bedtime," said Botan, pulling her skirt onto her waist. "I don't need it,"

"You can go first, Keiko-san," said Yukina.

"…Thank you," Keiko whispered, going into the bathroom.

The bathroom was decent, if a little white for Keiko's taste. The sink had a crystal-like knob and the shower was triangle-shaped and backed into a corner. Next to it was a spotless white toilet, with the toilet paper roll hanging off a crystal-like rung. In between the shower and toilet was the see-through bar that held a blue towel with "Yamajiro" embroidered on the bottom.

Keiko realized when she turned on the water and stepped in that she hadn't placed any bath products inside the shower, and was relieved to find that Kazuma had put her shampoo, conditioner, scrubby, and body wash in a hole in the shower wall. She was done in the shower in about ten minutes, and dressed herself next to the toilet. She left the bathroom and ushered Yukina in for her shower.

Keiko combed and dried her hair for the next fifteen minutes, and then took a little while to apply makeup. She looked in the mirror, curling locks of hair around her finger.

"The outfit's made for you, Keiko-chan," Jumping, Keiko turned around and saw Botan, waving a deck of playing cards. "Did I startle you? I just wanted to know if you wanted to play a round of rummy…"

"Sure. Well, actually, you'd have to teach me the rules."

Botan sat on Keiko's bed and she followed suit. Her roommate dealt Keiko and herself five cards, and set the rest of the deck in the middle. "You see, the object of the game is to have no cards left. To get rid of cards, you put down three cards- they can either be one card in three suits, like three queens, or three numbers in a row that are the same suit, like a three, four, and five of diamonds. Also, you can add on to another person's set of cards, like if I put the last queen on your three queens, or if you put a six of diamonds on my three, four, and five. But the catch is that every time you put something down, you have to discard one card."

"How do you get new cards?"

"You can draw on your turn from either the deck, or the last card played. And every time you take a new card-"

"You have to discard one from your hand?"

"Bingo! I think you've got it down."

Yukina, fully dressed, came out of the bathroom, and just as she did, another terrible bell sound came from the PA. Sighing, Botan put away her cards, and the three students went to breakfast.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Floor one, room six, floor one, room six…

Keiko had successfully got herself on floor one, but she couldn't seem to find room six, not to mention that she could hardly move in the giant blob that was the student body crowding in the hallways. She'd given up all kindness after just a few minutes, and found herself bumping into buckets of people and not even muttering an apology.

Keiko finally found her room and walked inside, seeing white walls and an ugly linoleum floor. She looked around for a place to sit, and found Botan sitting at one of the lab tables. She looked up in time to see Keiko and waved her over to an empty chair next to her.

"I was hoping I'd have you in here," She greeted, "I know I won't have any classes with Yukina for sure, unless she's in my study hall…"

Keiko rested her head in her palm, her elbow on the black table. "What's your next class?"

"Literature. I'm really excited about it- I never had much time to read back home…"

"With what teacher?"

"Sasaki, I believe…"

"And your third hour, Botan-san?"

"World History."

"So, we have the first two hours of the day together…"

"Really? That's great! I should have taken my playing cards with me though, and we could play rummy…but think about it, Keiko-chan! The first hour of the day, we'll cut frogs open together, and then we'll read together, oh, I hope those teachers put our desks close."

Keiko looked over at Botan, shyly smiling. "I've never seen anyone besides me be so enthusiastic about school."

A tone ran through the room, and a woman, apparently Watanabe-sensei, began blabbering about the rules of the laboratory and the classroom. Keiko wasn't listening, finding herself daydreaming, just as she had in April and May, about the discoveries and adventures in high school classes. A forgotten thought echoed through her head: Student council. She wondered if Yamajiro had a student council, and she knew that she was definitely going out for it if there was.

"Yukimura Keiko?"

She jumped for the second time that day. "Present!"

The smile she received made Keiko unsure whether the teacher was being kind or sarcastic, but she shook it off and fiddled with one of her pencils. After taking roll, Watanabe-sensei continued with the rules and procedures, and Keiko committed herself to listening.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Keiko walked in to floor two, room three, successfully getting herself there without much trouble. She saw Yukina backed up in a corner of the room and joined her, putting her things on a nearby desk.

"You're in my Geometry class?" asked Yukina, surprised to see Keiko sit next to her. "But you're not a second year student, are you?"

"Um, no, I'm not, but I suppose they think I'm smart enough for the class," Keiko replied.

"That's good…you see, my second year friend took this course last year, so I was planning on being all alone…" She sounded slightly fearful when she said "all alone", and Keiko decided to keep that in mind. "It's tough going through these hallways- I try to apologize to everyone I walk in to, but I was late to my first and second classes doing so."

"That's sweet of you," Keiko said, wanting to say something else, but she found she couldn't remember what she had intended to say.

There was a bit of a silence until Yukina pointed out that there were a few boys looking her way, and Keiko groaned. She could tell that they were playing with her, because she heard the words "first year" in a joking manner. Keiko supposed it was better than having serious suitors.

"Murakami?" A few seconds elapsed before Yukina realized she was being called for, and she nervously answered, "Yes?"

"All right, she's here…" Abe-sensei moved her pencil down the list, calling names and marking down whether or not they were present.

"Yukimura?"

"Here." Answered Keiko, looking up from the scribbled designs on her desk and seeing five boxes of food sitting on the teacher's desk. She noticed a sign with prices for various snacks and breathed a sigh of relief. All she had to do was get a little yen, and she could have peanut butter cookies every day in her math course.

Aside from her hot-headed literature teacher, she found the first three hours of her school day to be amazing.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The study hall room was an extremely hot, brown room on the fourth floor of the building. Three white fans blew cold air to three areas of the room, and there wasn't a single clock to be found on the wall.

Keiko scanned the heads sitting around the study hall. None of them were familiar.

She panicked. There weren't many seats left- who would she sit next to? It wasn't that Keiko was shy; it was simply that she was independent, and didn't need to talk to many people or have that many friends to please herself. She walked around the room, finally finding an empty seat and sitting quickly.

"You."

Keiko looked behind herself to an older, blonde-haired girl. "Hm?"

"Are you a second year?" The blonde asked, annoyed.

"Well, no-"

"Did you see our sign?" She held a makeshift sign, truly a folded piece of paper, into Keiko's face. The paper read, "Second Year Girls Only."

"I'm really sorry, but there's no other seat-"

"I don't have any pity. Find another seat." The blonde said her words slowly, as if Keiko was completely mindless. She got up and continued her search, finding another empty seat. A boy with fiery red hair and green eyes sat next to the seat, looking out the window.

"Excuse me, but are you saving this for someone?" she asked.

He looked up at her, curiosity in his eyes. "No. You can take it if you like."

"WHAT?" Keiko jumped and found the noise coming from the blonde and her comrades. "But, Minamino-kun, she's a first year, and first years aren't worthy of-"

The boy got out of his chair and put his face into Keiko's ear. "Just sit down, for my sake," He whispered.

"Um, thank you," Keiko replied, shell-shocked as she sat down. "Very much. Yukimura Keiko."

"Minamino Shuuichi. It's a pleasure, Keiko-san," She felt as though she should be flustering like a child, but somehow she wasn't.

"The first day," said a foreign voice to Keiko, coming from the left of Shuuichi. "And you're already the pretty boy of the school. Do you plan this, fox boy?"

The tone rang, and the teacher didn't seem to do anything but sit in her desk and stare at the students in the room. Keiko listened in to Shuuichi's reply.

"If I planned this, then why would I look so disgusted?...Why aren't you wearing the uniform?"

The mention of the uniform caused Keiko to look over at the boy talking to Shuuichi. He was slightly shorter, with slicked-back black hair and frightening but somewhat handsome red-brown eyes. His lean but muscular figure (As she could tell from two rolled-up sleeves) was covered in a green jumpsuit, just as Shuuichi had noted. His feet were up on the table, his arms acting as a pillow.

"Do you really think I'd wear that thing? It's frickin' powder blue, Kurama. And before you give me a lecture about breaking rules, it's been taken care of. I won't be bothered." The boy replied, carelessly.

"Kurama?" Asked Keiko, before getting a strange look from Shuuichi and his friend. "I'm-"

"It's a nickname," They answered, in perfect unison, as though they had practiced it thousands of times.

"I suppose I should introduce you, Keiko-san," Said Kurama, "This is my roommate, Urameshi Yusuke. He's in your year,"

Yusuke glanced in Keiko's direction, giving her an up-down look with a faint smirk. "You fill out that tasteless uniform pretty nice-"

Keiko slapped him in the nearest cheek, hiding no power even if he was still basically a stranger. She removed her hand, and she saw a red hand mark beginning to form. Victory was hers.

"-ly." Yusuke finished, rubbing his cheek.

"Pervert," She said, pulling out a pencil to doodle on a folder for the hour.

Kurama smiled, taking the same position as Yusuke. "Are you always so charming towards ladies?"

Yusuke mumbled a profanity. "Shut up, pretty boy."

A few tables away, five second years continued to fume over their newest enemy: a brown-haired first year by the name of Keiko Yukimura.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

It had been a terribly long trek to Keiko's room for English, and she saw it as a beginning of bad things to come. She'd been dreading this class beforehand, and this wasn't helping.

Keiko didn't mind learning to speak English, really- in fact, it was one of her ambitions to see England some day. But there was something that just bugged Keiko about being in…well, an all-level English class.

She knew the pace would be terribly slow, something Keiko despised. Sighing, she took a random desk, finding no companions in this class either.

And then _he_ walked in. Yusuke took a seat next to hers, and she rolled her eyes. "More comments about my figure?"

"It was supposed to be a compliment," He answered, mumbling half the words.

"It means you're looking," She said irritably.

He couldn't think of a response, and she noticed he seemed to be fuming over something. She kept looking at him, and soon enough Keiko realized that no one was sitting within a two-desk radius of Yusuke or herself.

"Does it upset you?"

Yusuke looked at her like she'd grown a third eye. "What?" He said defensively. "What's there to be upset about?"

She cocked her head towards the empty desks. He nodded.

"Let them be scared. I'll get all the ramen I want at lunch." His tone led Keiko, still, to believe that he was extremely unhappy about something. She wasn't about to ask it straightforwardly, and she wasn't even sure why she cared so much. This had been the person who told her she'd "filled out the uniform nicely."

So why was she so interested in his feelings? He was a boy- she'd never cared for the feelings and conversations of any boy but Kazuma.

Then Keiko realized just how alike the two of them were. Yusuke and Kazuma- almost brothers! Neither wore the uniform, neither liked school, and everyone else was scared of them. If it was possible, Yusuke seemed like a bigger grump than Kazuma.

Maybe she could get to know him like she had him.

She took some lessons from her memories, and the words spilled out of her mouth. "Are you…lonely, Urameshi-san?"

"Why the hell do you care so much? I'm not lonely, anyway. I don't need friends." He was as defensive as ever.

"I think you do." She replied simply. "I didn't think I needed friends either, well, at least not very many, and then I got thrown into the sandbox in preschool-"

"And the punk who did it got beat up?"

Keiko's eyes widened. "How did you know?"

"Guy I know tells the exact same story whenever he sees his 'girlfriend'." He had gone to his emotionless tone once again. At least he wasn't angry anymore.

Keiko had no clue how to introduce the idea, and she found, once again, that words were coming out of her mouth uncontrollably. "Well, I don't have any of my roommates in my classes after my third period, and you're in two of those following classes and my lunch, and whether you'll admit it or not, you're definitely lonely." The words stopped flowing, and she began to get worried. "I…I think what I'm saying is, you could be my friend, and then-"

"Fine."

Keiko was not expecting that answer, and with his odd tone, she wasn't sure if he was truly happy, or annoyed with her. From the little she knew of him, she didn't think he would have let her know even if he was thrilled.

"But don't annoy me with your guy problems, or crap like that."

She wanted to laugh, but he seemed downright serious (Making it all the more humorous), and after that last phrase, her English class started.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

"So, how did your classes go after Literature, Keiko-chan?" asked Botan, as she combed her wet blue hair. "You were so quiet at dinner, and I didn't want to bother you." Yukina nodded in agreement.

"Well, in my study hall, I made some friends, I suppose, but I also think I made an enemy out of almost every second year girl in the school, because I was getting glared at for the rest of the day." Keiko answered, pulling a pair of pajamas over her legs behind her screen.

"You didn't happen to sit by Minamino-san, did you?"

Keiko blushed. "Is that really why? A few girls protested in study hall, but I didn't think…"

"Quite the lady-killer, isn't he? Don't worry, I'll let it slide. It'll be our little secret." Botan put a finger to her lips.

"Botan, the whole school probably knows by now."

Her roommate turned beet red. "Oh, did I say that? It was just nonsense, nothing at all!" Botan fell back on her bed and was saying something harsh into her pillow. For a slight moment, Yukina gave her a suspicious stare. "I'm going to bed. Sorry about that- my tongue just had a mind of its own for a moment, I quoted a novel I read over the summer without realizing it…goodnight Keiko-chan, Yukina-chan!"

They responded with their goodnight wishes, and then there was a slight pause.

"So…who else did you befriend, Keiko-san?" said Yukina.

"Umm…his name's Urameshi Yusuke. He reminds me a lot of a friend I have back home, only…he's a little more angry, but also sad, almost like he's…two extremes at once." She said the words without realizing what they meant, and when Keiko was finished, she wondered if she'd suddenly become a poet.

"Yuu-san is kind, don't be fooled," Yukina replied.

"You know him?" Did everyone seem to know the people Keiko was suddenly meeting?

"He's an acquaintance of mine," She answered. "When my life turned around earlier this year, he was one of the new people I met,"

"Your life turned around?"

"It's…not a pleasant story, Keiko-san,"

She nodded. "Well, goodnight, I suppose,"

"Mmm hmm. Goodnight, Keiko-san,"

Tucking herself under the covers, Keiko found she heard voices again, this time of a different group, but the same raspy dialect as the first night. She could barely hear them tonight, and just as before, a _swoosh_ sound echoed through the mountains, and the new voices ceased to speak.

This night, however, she dismissed it as school workers, and slept easily.

**End Chapter 6**

** Note 1: **Geez, was this chapter a doozy! It took me three days to write it and perfect it- I think that's a new record, my friends. So, Keiko met Yusuke, and I'm probably going to get some complaints about how that happened…Well, all I can say about that is that I've been trying to recreate some of the things that happened in the actual YYH, except fitting the guidelines for this story (Note Keiko getting a haircut?), so if you guys remember that Keiko (Or was it Yusuke?) goes up to Yusuke in kindergarten and says, "Will you be my best friend?" and he says, "Okay!", and things go on from there. So, I tried to recreate that, except they're fifteen, stubborn, and fitting the spoilers about Yusuke…

Personally, I was so anxious to write this chapter, and when I did, it sucked. Arrgh, I feel terrible.

**Note 2:** If you have suggestions for a better summary, please tell me! I'm getting a bit bothered with the one I made.

**Mama Moose**: And you did update!

**ThebigW**: I went back and fixed it, just for you (And how guilty I felt…). Feel free to tell me about any more character blunders- I know there's probably about six million in this chapter. As for Yukina, fansites can't agree on her and Hiei's ages, most saying 500+ and some sixteen. So I decided to make her sixteen/posing as sixteen. And your talking about tennis had me in a good mood- I miss my dear tennis, and Federer's hurt…

**HottyTottie90**: Sorry about the slight delay! Now, about InuYasha vs. Ranma 1/2, the only reason I really despise InuYasha is Kagome. But Kouga…-drool-

**Tsukigana**: Oh, I wish I could tell you how Hiei's going to be Keiko's friend, I really do! But alas, I can't…

Also, a great big gigantic thanks to these people for putting me on their favorite stories and story alert lists!

**Bradybunch4529, Hirui, hottytottie90, Mama Moose, moonlight fenix, reader713, tsukigana, what a scene, residentgothgurl, and smartpants42**! Thanks a bunch you guys!

Until my next update…


	7. In The Cards

"**Beautiful Disaster" **

**Chapter 7**

_He's magic and myth…_

_As strong as what I believe…_

_A tragedy with…_

_More damage, than a, soul should see…_

"So, how have your first two days of school been, Keiko?" Shizuru asked over the phone. "The idiot just started at that all-boy school. The entire facility just makes me sick, Keiko. It's so tasteless!"

In the background, Keiko heard Kazuma flipping through channels and yelling profanities at the television. "Everything's fine here," Keiko replied.

"Hang on a sec," Shizuru said. "Kazuma! It's a one-way road! You can't talk to the TV!" There was a pause in which Keiko heard some silly bickering. She really missed that. "Anyway, it's great that you seem fine. How are your roommates? Hopefully they don't suck."

"Oh, no! They're really nice, Shizuru."

"Any cute guys? Get a rich one, Keiko, you hear me?"

"Shizuru…" Keiko picked up her geisha doll and toyed with it. "One of my friends, Shuuichi Minamino-kun, is the king of the school, but I don't see him as-"

"Minamino, eh? I like the sound of that. Go for him, Keiko." In the background of Shizuru, Keiko could hear Kazuma screaming about something at his sister.

"Shizuru, I don't like him! He's just a guy I know."

"Is he rich?"

"I don't know! But I can assure you, I don't like him and I never will."

"Okay, fine," Shizuru said, grumbling. Kazuma stopped screaming in the background. "Any other cute guys?"

"Shut up Shizuru. I don't look at guys and say, 'Oh, he's so cute'. I rate boys by their personalities and my tolerance of them." Keiko set down her geisha doll and sighed. Shizuru could be impossible.

"Okay, Miss Too-High-Standards. Are there any cute and tolerable guys?"

"For someone who accuses me of having high standards, you haven't had a boyfriend in a while, have you, Shizuru?"

Keiko heard Kazuma laughing and teasing Shizuru, and she thought she heard the elder Kuwabara punching him. "I _have_ had a boyfriend. You, on the other hand-"

"What was his name?" Keiko asked.

"His name was Sakyo," Shizuru answered, "And let me tell you, Keiko, he was very, _very_ rich, not to mention suave, handsome, and a smoker. But…something happened to him though, and I haven't seen him again. But he gave me a present that I've still got."

"What was the present?"

"Keiko, you're getting off subject. Now, are there any cute and tolerable boys?"

"I have another _friend_," She replied, tucking herself into bed.

"Really? What's his name, Keiko?"

Keiko yawned as she spoke. "Urameshi Yusuke."

"Hmm, Urameshi Yusuke, huh? That's a cute name. Go after him," She heard Shizuru lighting a cigarette, and Kazuma was again screaming behind her.

Keiko rolled her eyes. "It's time for me to sleep," She lied, "But thanks for calling, Shizuru."

"Anytime, Keiko, anytime." Keiko heard Shizuru heading up the stairs. "And really do go after that Urameshi kid, it'll do you some good to get a-"

"Bye, Shizuru." Keiko hung up the phone and went straight to sleep.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Well, today, um, class, we are, um, going to, um…"

Sasaki-sensei, Keiko's literature teacher, began to fumble through her desk and, like a volcano, the class erupted with talking and laughing. She'd discovered yesterday that the anger Sasaki-sensei had on the first day was completely false: Truthfully, the woman was old, confused, and pathetic.

Keiko rested her head in her palm and looked at Botan, who was doodling something on a bright blue folder. "She's a complete idiot," Keiko complained, "How can you not know what you're going to do?"

Botan shrugged and continued doodling on what seemed to be a unicorn. "She might be having a senior moment,"

"Hm," Keiko replied.

The class was quiet again as Sasaki-sensei stood up from her desk, seemingly ready. "We're passing out the textbooks today!" The class didn't share her enthusiasm, some students groaning.

"Textbook_s_?" Keiko said to herself, confused. She had only had one book per course, maybe even none, until this point, and now she was getting more than one for one class? How was she to carry all these books?

The classmates around her seemed perfectly used to the idea, though unhappy about having any books in general. Sasaki-sensei held up two textbooks, one an orange square and the other a blue rectangle. "The orange book is your grammar book. The blue one is your literature book. You'll need your blue book every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and your grammar book will be necessary every Tuesday and Thursday. Which means that tomorrow, you'll need your grammar book.

"I'll call you up in alphabetical order to get your two books for the rest of the class," The teacher finished, taking her seat next to two large book piles of orange and blue.

Keiko rested her head in the same fashion as before and gazed around the room, filled with boredom. She saw that Botan was working on the biology assignment next to her, tapping her pencil against the desk in frustration.

"You know, if I had been able to sit next to you, you wouldn't have to worry about that," said Keiko, laying her head on the desk now.

"Oh, it's nothing, see? I'm on number five already."

"There are ten questions, Bota-"

"Done!" Botan beamed with pride, setting down her pencil dramatically and then putting it away in her pink purse. "The last five were those connect the term with the definition things,"

"Kikuchi?" Sasaki-sensei called.

Botan went up to get her books and came back with her arms almost crumbling from the weight. There was a large bang as Botan put the books on the floor, shaking out her hands.

Keiko watched closely as Botan pulled something out of her purse and poked her shoulder with it. "Rummy, Keiko-chan?"

She nodded and Botan began to deal out a game. Keiko gave a look at her hand, finding she didn't have any cards that went together. On the desk next to the deck rested another queen, so Keiko took that to match her queen of diamonds, discarding an eight of spades.

Botan drew a card from the deck and tossed it lazily on the eight that Keiko had discarded. Keiko saw that it was a king of clubs, so she drew from the deck and got a jack of diamonds. She kept it, thinking somehow this would help her, and discarded a six of hearts. Botan took her six and laid down three cards: A four, five, and six, all of hearts. Smiling, she discarded a two of the same suit.

"Yukimura?"

"Coming," Keiko said, going up to get her books. Sasaki-sensei wrote her name inside an orange book and a blue book and handed her the books. Keiko went back and set the books down on the floor next to her desk. "Whose turn was it?" She asked, picking up her hand.

Botan said something, but the bell rang and drowned her out. Botan, barely able to lift her books, took her cards and staggered out of the room, Keiko following her. They turned in opposite directions, Keiko headed for her Geometry class.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

She walked in to Abe-sensei's room, dropping some yen into a box and taking a bag of two peanut butter cookies. Keiko walked to her seat in the front of the room, Yukina already sitting beside her. The older girl's face lit up and she smiled as she sat down, opening the package of cookies.

Keiko noticed that Yukina didn't have any snacks of her own. She held out the second cookie in the bag. "Would you like one, Yukina?"

Her friend held up her arms gently in protest. "I'm fine. I have my lunch right after this class,"

Keiko put the little cookie back in the bag and continued to munch quietly. The bell rang through the room and Abe-sensei stood up.

Of all her teachers, Keiko found that she liked Abe-sensei the best so far. It may have been her close attention to the class' work, or maybe, Keiko thought, it was that she seemed like what Shizuru would be as a teacher. She had a sarcastic, cool sort of outlook, with possibly a little satire here and there.

She watched as her instructor picked up her little green box and counted the coins and paper that was inside. The teacher looked up at the class and smiled. "I told them that selling this stuff would get quick money, and no one believed me. Thanks a bunch, you guys- your constant hunger for bon-bons and pickle chips is going to get the math department of Yamajiro big bucks,"

Abe-sensei was looking directly in the back of the room, Keiko noticed, to a boy with five bags of pickle potato chips arranged around his math notebook on top of his desk. Noticing the stares he was getting, the boy responded by shoving his hand into one of the opened bags.

"It can't be helped if you all like to eat junk for brain food, so let's get to numbers, shall we?" The teacher turned around and erased a few leftover numbers from the previous class off of her dry erase board. "I think I had a review sheet for chapters four through six of Algebra II, ne?"

There was a stoic "Yes" that echoed back at her, so Abe-sensei nodded, pulling out a paper from her binder. "Okay, any questions? Don't be afraid- just because you've already had this doesn't mean you won't have problems with it." Despite her words, no hands were raised. Keiko was almost positive she had her answers correct. "No?" The teacher sighed, beginning to walk in between the desks, starting with the aisle to Keiko's right and Yukina's left. She had looked upon ten papers, most likely, when she walked back to the desk. "Now, how many of you, for number sixteen, got eight, five and two?"

About eighteen people, Keiko estimated, raised their hands. She and Yukina weren't among them. Keiko worried that that meant she was one of the silly ones that had the wrong answer and said nothing. "Those of you raising your hands…would you like me to go over the problem, or do you know what you did?"

The exposed students nodded and Abe-sensei began to do number sixteen, an augmented matrix problem, on the dry-erase board. Keiko doodled in the margins of her notebook, awaiting the next review sheet.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Now don't you all start talking," Keiko's instructor announced in study hall, "I actually have something to say to you children today,"

The class groaned and temporarily put away all of their work, looking up at the teacher. The second years from the first day paid no attention, glaring at Keiko.

"Fossil," Yusuke mumbled next to her, flicking a piece of folded paper a few inches to the right of the old woman's long skirt. The teacher didn't notice, and he gave a tiny smile.

"After school today, there's a meeting for students interested in student council. I don't know why it's so early, as I'm sure none of you know anyone's names yet, but I'm not in charge, now, am I?"

Keiko's face broke into a catlike grin. Student council- Just hearing the words made her blood pump with excitement. She knew, somehow, that she was going to be the class president and no one was going to stop her. She wouldn't let them.

She could hear Yusuke tapping his pencil in aggravation, gritting his teeth. Keiko looked over and his eyes were widened in complete annoyance, as though staring would get the lady to be quiet. She covered her huge grin and burst into a giggling fit. His eyes narrowed and he looked at her, seemingly confused.

"My speech is over. Work, talk, I don't care: Just don't burn the school down."

Yusuke took his normal position, rolling his sleeves up and resting his head on his arms, feet propped on the long table in front of him. Keiko began working on the review sheet she'd received in Geometry.

"Don't you have something to do?" Kurama asked his roommate, coming back to his seat to Yusuke's left with an ice pack.

"All the teachers surround me like hunters during class, so I end up doing all the damn work they give me then." He moved around his legs on the table. "Shouldn't you have something to do, smart ass?"

"Finished it. Even if I did have work, I need this hour to heal my back." He gave Yusuke an intimidating glare that took any future words out of his throat.

"Your back? What happened?" Keiko asked, looking up from her work.

"Someone rammed four textbooks, three notebooks, and three folders into it," He answered, his words completely emotionless.

"How do you know that? And doesn't it hurt?" She questioned.

"I helped pick them up after they fell. It was a girl, most likely a first year. And it's a more annoying ache than a painful one."

"Did she gawk at you?" Yusuke mumbled, a small smirk on his face.

"Strangely, no. She didn't even stare, just apologized a thousand times, thanked me, and walked off. Exotic looks, too." Kurama seemed to trail off on the last sentence, tossing his hair onto his back.

Keiko thought she heard an underlying tone of vanity and flirtatiousness in his voice, but she supposed it was her imagination. She remembered his comment about exotic looks, wondering if he could be talking about one of her roommates. "What do you mean by that?"

"Her hair was blue and her eyes were sort of a pink-purple hue, and for all their strangeness they matched nicely." He mused, staring off into space.

Keiko's eyes widened. "Botan ran into you?"

Yusuke was laughing loudly in between the conversing pair.

Kurama glanced at her. "Botan, ne? A nice name for a girl, now that you mention it."

"She looked like she was having trouble with those books in Literature," Keiko thought aloud, returning to work on the review. Chapter seven had seemed to bring up a memory to her, and she remembered that memory now: Keiko was terrible at parabolas, if she was reminiscing correctly.

Yusuke had stopped laughing and was staring over her shoulder. Keiko didn't notice him for a while. "You need something?" She asked, amused.

He didn't answer, just looking at her paper. "Yusuke…?"

"What's a…pair-uh-bowl-uh?"

Kurama and Keiko both laughed and he turned bright red. "Shut up! I haven't had any of this crap!"

"Yusuke, it's called a parabola," Kurama informed him. "Surely you didn't skip so much that you missed that,"

"Let me tell you, skipping was so much more fun that learning about…para…bola…s!"

Keiko let the boys duke it out, watching Yusuke intently. He was as much of a mystery, probably even more, than Kazuma was. Her first analogy was that he was two extremes at once, and in the past few days he'd seemed to her like an abused child- totally innocent and yet completely scarred.

Yes, he was interesting indeed.

"Eh, whatever," Yusuke concluded, taking a relaxed position once more. "Beating up high school kids was definitely more rewarding at the time."

Very interesting.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………..

"And, students, go over to the man standing in the corner to sign up to run for office," The woman on the podium said as students began to stand up and walk towards the said person. "Speeches will be in a week. Thanks for attending and good luck!"

Keiko rushed over to the man, ending up fifth in line. She was quickly up at the top.

"Name, miss?" The man asked.

"Yukimura Keiko, sir," She replied, peering down at his clipboard as he wrote her name in four perfect symbols.

"And your office?"

"Class president," Keiko announced proudly. He jotted that down and gave her the nod. She walked out the nearest pair of double doors and to the right, to her dormitory.

She noticed Yusuke leaning up against the wall and waved. "Yuu-kun!"

He did nothing but look at her as she walked up to him. "What are you doing out here?"

"Purposely tripping people and watching their stuff fall on the floor," He answered, laughing at the look of shock on her face. "For the girls, I blow up the skirts. I saw you smirking like a molester in study hall and figured you'd be here, so I-"

The sound of her slap echoed through the hallway. She gritted her teeth, making a noise she hoped sounded cutthroat. He was rubbing his cheek but still smiling slightly. "I was lying. I only tripped a guy once. The other part…"

Keiko continued her attempt to look threatening. "You do know you look like a complete idiot," He told her.

She grabbed his hand and started walking. "You know, just for that, let's walk down to my room together,"

He tried to pry her fingers off of his hand, but she wouldn't let go. "You can't make me do this! I'll look like a complete softie!" He screamed, while being dragged across the hallway.

Keiko smirked back at him. "You know, Yusuke, girls tend to like romantic guys. Look at Kurama- he could probably overthrow all of the school and everyone would back him,"

He tried to form several different words at once after that, finally succumbing to Keiko and walking beside her, his face stoic. Seeing this, she led him speedily up the stairwell to the girl's dorms, but he still didn't change emotion. Keiko gave up and let go of his hand. He immediately dug both of his hands into his pockets, mumbling something to himself.

They were a few yards from Keiko's door, and she ran up to it, leaning against its whiteness. She began to turn the knob and smiled. "Thank you," She said, softly, as she slowly opened the door.

He barely made any sound, but nodded slightly and walked off. Keiko watched him go down the hallway, mesmerized until he became a speck disappearing down the stairs. A few moments after he was gone, she blinked, opening the door completely.

She walked in the room and Botan and Yukina immediately looked up from their card game at her.

"Where were you, Keiko-san?" Yukina asked. "You've been gone for half an hour after classes,"

"Eh, student council," Keiko replied, tossing her briefcase onto her bed. She walked over and sat next to Botan. "I'm going to run for president of the class,"

"President?" Botan said, "Wow! I'm sure you'll win- I haven't met anyone smarter."

She blushed. "I'm not so sure, but thanks. Could you deal me in?"

Botan nodded and dealt three new hands, flipping up a king of hearts.

"So, how was your day?"

**End Chapter 7**

**Note 1**: I really, really, really don't like the new review system. Let's just get that straight.

I'm going to be honest: This chapter is positively horrible. I'm a tad busy trying to write my second Christmas story, "Selfish", a Hatori/Mayuko story, but I decided that before starting that I would update this again. So, due to my very, very bad day today, I decided I would finish this today so I don't have to worry about it and can just relax. And so you guys can read a little more of my terrible story. –laughs-

So, anyway, don't tell me flat-out this chapter is horrible- I know that. Otherwise, go ahead and critique, but keep it light- I'm having a very bad start to my week.

**Note 2**: Thanks to these new story alert people!

**Sailor Greeny, Takeno98, Forgotten-Heart, Feral Panda Chick, and…Silver Eyes Bright**? The writer of "Downtown", one of the best Yusuke/Keiko stories I've read? Wow…-faints-

Until my next update, I cry, because, guess who lost…


	8. Pencil War

"**Beautiful Disaster" **

**Chapter 8**

_I'm longing for love and the logical…_

_But he's only happy hysterical…_

_I'm waiting for some kind of miracle…_

_Waiting so long…_

Keiko picked up her hand and began to sort her five cards. "Boring and uneventful," she lied. The truth was that she couldn't put her experiences at this strange place into words and even if she could, something inside of her begged not to say anything about what was going on.

She supposed it was Shizuru's fault, and perhaps she was worried that her roommates would react in the same way as her guardian. It seemed that in her world any male and female above twelve conversing were assumed lovers.

Botan lay a discarded card down. "You're not telling the truth- something had to have happened. You can't go a day without activity." She replied, straightening out her hand.

Keiko suddenly remembered Botan's unusual happening today and felt herself becoming eager to hear her side. "Let's see…as I said, I went to the student council meeting, and then I made Yusuke walk me to my dorm. That's really about it, but what about you?"

Botan blushed and looked straight into her hand. Yukina put a hand on her shoulder, looking over in a rather motherly fashion. "Botan-san, what's wrong?"

The blue-haired girl kept her eyes on her cards, sorting them feverishly. "Oh, um…I was, you know, having trouble with carrying my books after Literature class, and I fell right on this poor second year boy, and I felt horrible about it and kept apologizing, but he assured me he was fine and picked up my books, and then I really looked up at him, and…"

"Did you stare?" Keiko asked, smiling behind her cards.

"Heavens no! I just, well, looked, and…"

"And what?" Keiko pushed.

"It was Minamino-kun!" Botan answered, just a little louder.

"What did you do?" Yukina and Keiko asked in unison.

"I remember that I was so flustered and embarrassed about the whole ordeal that I took my books from him and ran the other way. I was almost tardy, but I do believe it was worth it to distance myself from him." Botan looked down at the cards. "Are we playing, or talking? "She commented, giggling.

"I'd rather talk now," said Keiko, tossing her hand on the deck.

Her two roommates put their hands on the bed as well, Botan cleaning up the mess on the bed and putting the deck back in the box. Setting the box aside, Botan turned to Keiko.

"You said he was in your study hall, Keiko-chan…do you know how he felt?" she asked. "I hope he wasn't too annoyed with me."

"Oh, no, he had some minor back pains, but he didn't seem to mind so much." Keiko replied, leaving out how…strange his voice had sounded.

_"Exotic looks, too." _

She could hear Kurama's voice ringing in her ears and the tone brought a chill up her spine. She winced, looking down.

"Something wrong, Keiko?" said Botan.

Keiko looked up. "Oh, nothing's wrong at all, I was just musing…" Should she tell her? Would it please Botan? "He said you had very exotic looks."

Her roommate scratched her chin thoughtfully. "Exotic…? I suppose that's a compliment."

Keiko told herself she would say no more, thinking that Kurama, if he was considering Botan, would not want her to…go into detail. More importantly, his words still rung in her ears, and now they were so worn that it was simply a noise.

The room was quiet for a long time and finally Yukina got up to do some studying. Botan took out her books and did the same. All of Keiko's work was done, so she sat on her bed, trying to come up with ideas for her campaign while being haunted by the whole Kurama-Botan scenario.

The slogan, she supposed, would be the hardest thing to invent.

Don't be slow…vote Keiko?

Get a grip of yourself, she thought, that's just plain stupid.

She'll give you a plethora…vote Yukimura?

Keiko doubted that a good deal of the freshman class knew the meaning of the word "plethora", but it had a nice ring. Of course her name _had_ to be hard to rhyme.

She'll give you the best, vote Keiko for prez?

No, no, abbreviations like that aren't serious enough. The rhythm was horrid as well. Her plethora line was clearly the best, but it was simply too complex. She could probably do without the slogan to begin with.

"Keiko?"

She jumped and looked over to Botan, who was suddenly sitting next to Yukina. "Hm?"

"Well, Keiko-san, we're not sure if you'll take this idea, but we thought of a cute poster idea for your campaign," said Yukina.

"Really? Can I see it?" Keiko asked.

Botan held up a piece of paper with a quick sketch of Keiko holding a big bowl and a large spoon. A few words on the spoon read "More soda selection in the Café". She noticed the words floating around the paper Keiko now- "She'll cook what you want- Keiko for President".

Keiko smiled. "It's cute. But why cooking, and what's the Café?"

"You said your parents ran a restaurant," said Yukina.

"And I found out yesterday that there's a café in the basement where you can get snacks and meals on the weekends. I went there- it's very cool, but there isn't much soda." Botan added.

"We could probably go to the art room on Sunday and draw and color them, but it would take a long time," Yukina suggested.

"You know…" Keiko began, "It wouldn't take as long if I recruited some helpers."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

"_Coloring?_" They asked, in perfect unison the next day's study hall.

Keiko nodded and tried to block a laugh. They stared at her as though she were a peculiar specimen under the microscope.

"You're kidding, right?" said Yusuke, nodding in hope that would be his answer.

She shook her head. "It's for my campaign posters. It benefits a good cause, really! Don't you think I'd be a responsible class president?"

"Who's there? Just your roommates?" Kurama asked.

"Yeah. Just Botan, Yukina, and me!" She gave the boys an encouraging smile that she didn't receive back.

Kurama began to whisper something to himself and Yusuke raised a brow. Something was surprising them, but what?

_"Yuu-san is kind, don't be fooled,"_

Oh, that was right. They apparently were acquainted with Yukina. Had she not told them of her second roommate?

"I remember now: You guys know Yukina, don't you? See? It'll be a great way to see her again."

Kurama was already convinced and took out a textbook. Yusuke stood scowling before her, the next warrior in the ring. What could she say to make him do it?

Keiko thought for a minute, looking down at her math homework. She didn't have the slightest clue what would make him agree to something. Then again, maybe she did.

Nothing.

Keiko sighed and fiddled with a pencil. There had to be something he wanted…food. Yes, that was ingenious! Kazuma never passed up a good meal.

"I'll give you my serving of ramen for the rest of the week if you go, Yusuke," She said.

He looked slightly more interested. "On two conditions,"

"Yes?"

"The first is that _no one _hears about this,"

What was with men and their pride? "And the second?" Keiko asked, remembering the first condition.

He gave a slight smile. "I want _two_ weeks worth of your ramen,"

Keiko nodded in agreement. It was only food, after all. "Pleasure doing business with you,"

She could see his mind stirring with the thought of all those noodles in his possession and smiled. She felt all-powerful, making these alliances. Keiko felt now as if the class president title was almost within her grasp.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

She opened the door into the art room on Sunday morning, accompanied by Botan and Yukina, who were trailing behind her. Keiko flipped on the lights, one by one, to illuminate the small room. Satisfied, they trekked further inside.

Yukina had an art class and quickly remembered where to find the large poster board. Botan also took an art class and found the pencils and coloring pencils in another drawer. She gave Yukina a pencil and the second year girl immediately began drawing the posters.

She sat next to Keiko. "Do you really think we're going to get much done with one person doing all the drawing?" Botan asked.

Keiko looked at her roommate, wide-eyed. "You have a point, but are we any good at drawing?"

Botan shrugged. "We'll find out."

They picked up two pencils and two sheets of poster board and got to work. Keiko knew she wasn't much of an artist, but her self-portrait wasn't too horrible for a silly campaign poster. Botan, next to her, was smiling and laughing as she drew a much better version of Keiko.

"You're really talented," said Keiko, staring more closely at the poster.

"Oh, no, I'm not," Botan answered, "There are a plenty of better students in the art program,"

Keiko sighed and went back to her poster, which wasn't coming along quite as well. She finished her head and hat and began to draw her neck.

There was a knock on the door and Keiko began to get up, but she saw Yukina walking for the door. The short girl opened it and ducked behind, peering her head out cutely. Her eyes widened and she broke into a big smile. "Yuu-kun, Shuu-kun! What a pleasant surprise!"

Yusuke forced a smile as Kurama greeted Yukina. "We've been recruited by Keiko for the job of coloring," he said.

"Well right this way, Prince of the Castle," Yukina responded, leading the boys to some spots across from the three ladies. Botan saw Kurama being escorted and hid her head behind an upright poster.

Keiko laughed, turning to her. "You know he didn't mind your incident at all,"

Botan sighed and hunched over. "It doesn't change that I'm embarrassed,"

The conversation died from that moment and Keiko moved her lips into a pout. She wasn't sure how to act with so many people surrounding her. She'd only had one or two peers at all of her parties, and now…four.

Botan put the poster board down and simply focused both of her eyes on the table and her drawing. She drew feverishly, occasionally glancing at Yusuke, who seemed slightly amused. "Is she always this crazy?" He asked Keiko.

Keiko looked up from her own poster. "No," she answered flatly.

He looked at her as though he didn't believe her, but didn't say anything. No one but Yukina seemed to be in a good mood.

A few moments later, Keiko and her roommates were done with their sketches and handed off the posters to Yusuke and Kurama, Keiko taking the last. Botan and Yukina took out two more sheets of poster board and the cycle began. A sudden silence swept the art room as well.

It seemed to last for hours: Constant coloring, drawing, handing off, but no conversation, no talking, no laughing. Yukina was lost in her own world of art, Botan was trying to do anything but make eye contact with Kurama, who gave her a few long stares now and then. Yusuke seemed to be muttering curses to himself, while Keiko observed them all in quick glances.

It had only been forty-five minutes, however, when the peace ended.

Yusuke looked up from his current poster to Keiko. "You know…" he began, "You haven't bribed me yet to vote for you."

Keiko glanced at him, finding the statement peculiar. "Should I have to bribe you? Aren't we friends?"

"I'm too lazy to vote," he said, "But if I get something for the deed, I'll do it,"

Keiko sighed. "And what is it that you want?"

Yusuke smirked at her, putting down his colored pencil. "How about one free pass for blowing up your skirt?"

I should have seen that coming, Keiko thought, picking up a colored pencil and hurling it in his direction, where it hit the middle of his forehead and bounced off under the table. He sat froze for a minute, but then went under the table to retrieve the pencil.

"Is that how you want to play?" He asked mockingly, holding the pencil as though it were a machine gun. "Well, I can play that way too, sister!" Yusuke hurled the pink pencil in her direction and took out a whole box of colored pencils, getting ready to fire them at Keiko.

She was laughing now, at the delight of it all, throwing pencils back and forth, while the other three in attendance sat and laughed. It didn't take long for them to pick up their own boxes of pencils and make it a five-way Pencil War, pinks and greens and oranges and blacks flying across the tables and bodies diving in the fray to retrieve their ammo. Five minutes into the war, Yusuke made alliances that he used just for one cheap shot at his "ally", which resulted in a boatload of pencils thrown at his head. For a small time, Keiko lay in between the tables, picking up lost ammo and hurling them from her spot on the floor. Everyone attacked everyone, sometimes picking favorite victims to continuously bombard, and then they decided to stop. This was at the point where they probably had five hundred pencil dents in their foreheads.

Keiko looked down at the posters, a goofy smile still on her face. "Do you think they're okay?" she asked.

Kurama examined the poster he had just finished coloring when the war started and held it up, laughing. Dots and dashes of various colors were scattered across the page. "I think it's rather artistic," he said.

"I agree," Botan added, "People will think you have a creative mind, Keiko,"

"But what about the other posters?" questioned Yukina. "They don't have the marks on them,"

Keiko laughed, bringing over the posters finished before the Pencil War. She put them in spots on the boys' table. "Well, who wants some target practice for the next Pencil War?"

Little did she know, the next Pencil War was only two short minutes away.

With another one hundred dents in each of their foreheads, the newly formed group walked down the hallway to the female dormitories. It was safe to say that after trying to murder one another with sharp colored pencils that each was satisfied.

Keiko observed that Yusuke was smiling, truly smiling when he announced to the hall, "That…was…the most fun…I have had in a long time!"

The rest of the group nodded eagerly in agreement. "I mean," said Yusuke, "What other time can I chuck a million pencils at Kurama's head without getting yelled at by some crazy-ass teacher?" Kurama looked slightly annoyed at the last part of the sentence.

"Yeah," added Botan, "I think I know my way around the school a little better from hanging up the posters,"

All of them being new to the school, they nodded once again. "Next weekend we should get a pass and go into town," Yukina suggested.

"What's in the town?" Keiko asked.

"Who knows?" said Botan, "But we'll soon find out, ne?"

"I'm all for that," The group said, in slight unison. There was a small silence.

"I suppose we're some sort of posse now," Kurama mused.

"If we all agree on it," said Yukina. "Don't friends need rules?"

"Like having to vote for friends in school elections?" Keiko asked, teasingly.

"Hey! I'm voting for you after that hella good party!" retorted Yusuke.

"The only real rule is always support and trust," Botan said to the others. The group fell silent again, for reasons Keiko couldn't explain to herself. Was this a hard idea for Yusuke and Kurama, perhaps? But…Yukina wasn't saying anything either, and Botan had trailed off. Keiko realized she also wasn't speaking a word.

Trust. Was it a hard concept for all of them to trust others? Maybe they were worried that the others would betray their trust. Keiko didn't know which, or both, but she knew something concerning that word bothered her. She didn't want it to. She could trust them…couldn't she?

Was it the former, support? She always tried her best to give a shoulder for tears, and while sometimes it wasn't enough, she was trying. Were they all weak? Was there something they all hid? Possibly. Keiko hadn't told anyone about her parents yet. Maybe they had secrets too, just as dark as hers. Maybe, she thought, shuddering, maybe even darker.

She wanted to speak, but her voice box shut off. She pushed her words out and they came. "Well…obviously those are odd concepts for us all, ne? Maybe we couldn't do it before, but we can do it now."

They exchanged glances between one another nervously, but that faded soon. Keiko noticed they had stopped, right by their dormitory door.

"Yup," said Botan, with an ear-to-ear grin, "We're a quintet now!"

Kurama smiled at her. "Agreed,"

Yukina nodded, "Just what we all need!" Keiko and Yusuke gave out "hmm"s in agreement.

Botan opened the door. "I guess this is goodnight," she said.

"Until dinner," Kurama added, the same tone when he remarked about Botan's "exotic looks". Keiko shuddered.

"Yes," She whispered, ushering in Keiko and Yukina and then shutting the door quickly. Botan speedily walked into the bathroom, closing the door with a slam.

Keiko and Yukina exchanged looks. "I'm not so sure this newborn quintet will last for long," Keiko commented.

Yukina shook her head. "Trust me: We'll do anything to keep it alive, for our own sake,"

Keiko cocked her head in confusion. "Who's 'we'?"

"All of us," said Yukina, "We all have a desperate air around us,"

"You really think so?"

Yukina nodded. "Some not as strong as others, but it's still present,"

Keiko gave a confused smile. Whether Yukina was correct or crazy, she knew it was going to take a lot more than a few Pencil Wars to hold the budding friendships together.

**End Chapter 8**

**Katie's Note: **The wait won't happen again. Blame writer's block, laziness, Christmas fics, and more laziness.

As for my personal opinion on this chapter, it was a fun one to write, from the Pencil Wars to Keiko and Yukina's observation that they are all desperate. It truly was very fun. Quality, I don't know, it's not wonderful but it's not horrible. And at this point, I really don't care: I'm just happy I finished the chapter before I left for Florida. I didn't want to delay another week.

So, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy New Year, and Happy anything else you might celebrate.

Until my next update…WHAT? Federer didn't get Sportsman of the Year? And lost out to a player on the Pure Evil Patriots? This calls for desperate measures! Gather an army to attack Foxborough! I will have revenge!


	9. Research

"**Beautiful Disaster" **

**Chapter 9**

_And if I could hold on…_

_Through the tears and the laughter…_

_Would it be beautiful…_

_Or just a beautiful disaster…?_

_Swoosh!_

It was happening again. Keiko should have known; after all, it happened every night. The first few nights, it had been voices, and now it was different every night. Some nights, she heard voices, and other nights she just heard noises. _Strange_ noises.

Keiko buried her head under her pillow and tried to think of something else. Camptown ladies sing this song, doo-daah, doo-daah…

Not working. Outside her window, Keiko heard a soft _clink! Clink! Clink! _It was beginning to become less frightening and more annoying.

Botan stirred in the bed next to her. She'd been moving around all night and Keiko was beginning to worry if something was going wrong. Once again, Keiko tried to think of something else.

What could she promise the student body? The question had pounded in her head for some time. While she had promises on her posters, they were vague and few. Keiko couldn't commit to a number of things she could think of simply because she was a student. On the bright side, those stupid noises seem to have gone away, she thought.

_Swoosh! Munch! Munch! _

Keiko groaned into her pillow and banged her fists onto the mattress. And suddenly, a thought came to her…what did normal schools have that Yamajiro didn't have? Surely, there had to be some sort of tradition students took for granted that wasn't available at this place. That was it! She could do it! Promising herself to find out just what the school didn't have tomorrow, Keiko tossed happily in her bed. So much for being unable to sleep! She was reveling in her amazing idea! There were no noises, no roommates stirring, no nothing. She knew what she was doing!

After this short celebration, Keiko laid her head back down to sleep, falling asleep in a short time. In response, a _clink!_ was heard outside, and then total silence.

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

It so happened for Keiko that the next day of the week was indeed not Saturday, but Friday, five days after the Pencil Wars. Things had been going relatively well between them all since then and Keiko believed their five-person bond strengthened with each passing day.

But the Pencil Wars were over, and Keiko had to sit through six hours of school. As she always did, Keiko paid attention, but the plan buzzed in her head every second. Every time the teacher stopped, she was thinking of her speech, staring into cyberspace, and possibly grinning.

Looking back on her day, Keiko laughed a little at the thought of her staring into thin air with a goofy grin. She wondered if that was the reason that she'd felt a stare burning through the side of her cheek in study hall. Hmm. Probably Yusuke.

Keiko reached the library and turned the knob on the door, but it remained closed. Groaning, she knocked on the door, one hand on her hip. "Hello?" she asked. "Is anyone there?" No one came. She sighed and tried knocking again. "Hello?"

"I'm here, I'm here," said a young, male voice, opening the large door for Keiko. "I didn't realize that the doors were locked. You'll have to forgive me," He sounded only slightly honest to her, and she immediately realized why: He looked almost fresh out of college, with eyes a blue-green hue straight from an artist's pallet and tousled black hair. He seemed uncomfortable as she looked upon him, so Keiko began to study her hand as she entered the spacious library. "Can I help you with anything?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm wondering if you have any yearbooks here, or basically material on the school over the years," Keiko answered. "I'm preparing for a student council speech."

The man reached out an arm to his right, looking at her for a reaction. Keiko gave a slight nod and he put his arm down, walking in that direction. She followed closely behind him until he stopped at a lower shelf.

"Yamajiro…" He said, almost in a trance, as he slid his left hand over the books, "Nineteen-fifty to the present." The young librarian pulled some books halfway out to show Keiko. "Yearbooks…annual reports for the mailing list…and other resources that aren't affiliated with the school. You couldn't ask for much else." He began to walk away, leaving her to her studies.

Keiko opened the very first yearbook, going to the activities section. She found clubs for the major subjects and the foreign languages spread out over a few pages. Keiko looked at the pictures closely, discovering that there was not a single girl among the clubs. Of course, she reminded herself, that was almost fifty years ago.

On the next page was a picture of many boys in matching outfits with a poster above them reading, "The Yamajiro Fraternity". There were a few photographs of various meetings next to it. Turning the page, Keiko found the student council, the foreign culture club, and something called the HELP club, all without females. She kept turning pages until the activity section was over, then closing the yearbook entirely. Keiko picked up last year's copy next.

This copy held the same clubs, plus a sorority, politics club, vegetarian club, and a movie club, which Keiko still found to be not very much, but she couldn't think of anything else to have clubs about. She put the open yearbook on the table, leaning back and staring at the ceiling. There was something missing, but…what? Athletics?...There wasn't any of that, either, but it wasn't like Yamajiro would have any schools in the area to compete with.

She tried to remember all the activities she had done in middle school, but just as she called on her memory, it faded. She suddenly thought of the blue-eyed boy and his shy, nervous, "Yukimura-san?"…"Yukimura-san?". There was something there, her mind knew it, but she couldn't put the name to it. Her mind was beating around the bush, thinking of nervous boys, nervous girls, drama, dresses, puppy love…music…dances. Keiko had found a missing piece. There was…a name, for high school dances, that was right, but what were the names? Home-something and Rom…no, not Rom, Keiko thought, laughing at herself, Prom. That was in spring, wasn't it? But the fall one, home-something…oh, yes, that's _homecoming_, she remembered. She had always dreamed of homecoming as a child, fondly looking at her mother's homecoming queen crown. When she thought about it, what kind of school _didn't_ have homecoming?

Well, this one wasn't going to be dance-less for long, Keiko decided, writing that in her planner. She put the two yearbooks back and found the annual report that led into this year, pulling it out. The average straight-A student would have skimmed through it with much boredom, but Keiko was never average. She found the section on students and their diversity, soaking it up.

_"According to student council polls, ninety-nine percent of the student body is Japanese." _

Of course, Keiko thought. Who else would come here?

_"One percent of the body is a combined mix of exchange students and immigrants to Japan from a number of Asian countries."_

They must feel left out, she mused, jotting down a note about that.

_"Due to dormitory space and fairness, the number of male and female students is exactly half and half. In the section of religion, eighty percent call themselves strictly Buddhist, fifteen percent admit to melding religions together, which is what most Japanese tend to do unconsciously, and five percent responded with the 'other' choice. A curious statistic is that three percent of that five percent said that their religion was 'Jedi'. The Board is currently discussing adding this choice to the selection." _

Keiko laughed loudly, covering her mouth. It sounded like something Yusuke or Kazuma or even Shizuru would do. She wrote that down verbatim, considering using the quotation in her speech. Perhaps a new club was in order.

Keiko found that the rest of the information in the student section was about financial topics and other adult issues, so she put the report back, finding a little bit of information.

The last group of books that the librarian had suggested for her was just to the right of the annual reports. Keiko thought she had a good idea of what she could say to the students, so she skimmed, seeing one title that sparked her interest.

She pulled the book down and opened it. "'Rumors and Mysteries of Yamajiro Academy'…" Keiko whispered to herself, looking at the contents for old mysteries that were now almost tradition. She didn't find any and Keiko began to wonder if this _was_ just a strict, educational place. Keiko found herself, despite her strong disbelief in anything supernatural, looking up odd noises in the index, and she went to the first page…

_"At any school, there are bound to be rumors concerning the supernatural…"_

Get to the good stuff, Keiko thought, beginning to skim. A word poked out of a later paragraph, which she started to read.

_"…Many students believe and have believed that Yamajiro and the surrounding area is inhabited by a number of demons. According to several 'demon experts' among students and alumni, a demon's two favorite places in the Human World are mountains and large, densely populated cities. Over time many students have complained about noises and voices after the curfew hours, and superstitious people blame these cases on otherworldly creatures. Many of these complaints were female students that said people were talking outside their windows about 'kidnapping a human wench'. There have also been alleged sightings of sparring monsters on the tennis courts…most people say that pranksters are to blame for the demonic rumors, but believers argue that Yamajiro is most likely a popular demon 'hangout' or near a portal…"_

Keiko was never one for superstition and she wasn't about to let a bunch of stupid noises and an article change her mind. She began to laugh at the story, seeing as it was written just like a cliché tabloid. Something in the back of her head longed to believe in the story, but Keiko was too smart to lean on superstition because she herself couldn't explain a situation. She put the book back on the shelf where it had been, putting her notebook back in her briefcase.

Keiko stood up, walking back to the door. "Thank you," she said to the young librarian, who looked up and waved. Keiko then opened the door and walked out.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

"I hope you haven't been doing anything stupid, Keiko," Shizuru greeted via telephone wires. Keiko could hear her playing with the cord and Kazuma munching on a snack. "Oh, whoops! I'm so used to saying that about Kazuma that I accidentally said it about you." She snickered, Kazuma groaning loudly. "Keiko…doing something dumb…what an oxymoron,"

"That's a pretty big word for you, Shizuru," Keiko heard Kazuma say, resulting in a punch in the chest. Keiko assumed that Kazuma was now trying to punch her back, which he was, and Shizuru once again knocked him to the ground. He ruled almost most of the city as a middle-schooler, thought Keiko, and his older sister can still hit him hard.

"Hey, Keiko!" Shizuru hollered into the phone, "Didn't you call to talk to me?"

Keiko blushed. "Oh, sorry, I was just so caught up in listening to the two of you that I forgot about it."

Shizuru prodded her. "Well, go on. I haven't talked to you since last Wednesday: Tell me all the new dirt about Urameshi."

"Shizuru!"

"Just kidding. Go ahead, Keiko."

"Things have been going nicely here," Keiko began. "My roommates, plus Yusuke and the Shuuichi Minamino I told you about formed sort of a five-way friendship, which is always good. My campaign for class president seems to be doing well: I've had a lot of people compliment my posters. Aside from that, nothing's really happened, but I wanted to ask you something."

She knew Shizuru would become rather curious. Keiko could see her lighting a cigarette in her living room and smirking. "What do you need?" She asked.

"I wanted to know if there was any advice that you could give me regarding my student council speech," said Keiko. "It's on Monday."

"You know that I'm one of the worst people to ask about this," Shizuru replied.

"No, you're not,"

"All I can say is try to appeal to your audience. If they don't think that you're like them, they won't vote for you. There's that, and…speak clearly. Don't stammer. Of course, that's a given, isn't it?"

"But how do I tell them that I'm like them? What if I'm not even like them, Shizuru?" Keiko asked, beginning to hyperventilate.

"Tell them things that make them happy. Didn't you research that?"

"Yes, but what if the facts aren't true? This is a whole different class than that poll, and the guidelines, for some stupid reason, won't allow the candidates to poll the current class. I mean, I know some of the stuff that my classmates have talked about, and I know what I like, but is that enough? I bet there's some popular hotshot, or someone who's everyone's friend that'll win, and-"

"Keiko, you're a smart girl. People want to be led by someone who's intelligent, regardless of how nice they are. You can do it."

Keiko sighed. "Well, Shizuru…I hope you're right."

"What are you talking about? I'm always right, Keiko." Shizuru replied, laughing. Keiko cracked a small smile.

"'Night, Shizuru,"

"'Night, Keiko,"

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"And I will add more soda machines to the school, especially in places away from the dining hall, and I will add food machines in the living areas, and I will…"

This candidate for president made Keiko want to scream. The boy had been making countless wonderful, out-of-this-world promises that there was no way he could ever dream of keeping. On top of that, he didn't have any grammar whatsoever. Uggh.

It was only making her nervousness worse. She wondered if people would feel about her as they did about him, only for the opposite reasons. That Keiko Yukimura, I can't even listen to a word she says, she's so over-intelligent…

Stop it! She screamed inside her head. Stop worrying about it, you're going to make yourself sick! But she couldn't stop. She was Keiko Yukimura, not Shizuru Kuwabara or Yusuke Urameshi, and Keiko Yukimura worried. Boy, did she worry.

She scanned the auditorium for her friends, thinking she might find some security in them. Keiko saw blue hair and knew immediately that it was Botan. Seated to her left was Yukina, and to her right Kurama and Yusuke. The first three were all focused on the speech, but Yusuke appeared to be toying with something sticky on the empty seat next to him. She smiled. It brought back memories of her very first speech.

Suddenly, the room was filled with applause. Keiko snapped out of her trance, realizing that the boy was done with his speech. Also clapping, the freshman dean walked up to the podium. Taking a heavy breath, Keiko clenched her fist holding her speech.

"Our next candidate is…Keiko Yukimura."

For reasons Keiko couldn't explain, she felt her eyes go directly towards Yusuke. He was looking up now, straight at her as she stood up. Keiko swore she was shaking as she walked up to the podium, flattening out her speech on it. Her breaths became quicker and she felt as though she was running a race. She looked at her friends again. All were looking straight at her. She could almost see Shizuru smoking a cigarette behind. Kazuma was making fun of Yusuke, as she thought he would if they ever met. Keiko closed her eyes briefly and began.

"As she said, I'm Keiko Yukimura. I'm from Tokyo, Japan-" People cheered for a short time. Keiko was confused, but she continued. "…And I'm running for class president,"

She paused, taking a big breath. The room was silent. "As for the duties that I am expected to carry out, do not doubt that I will do them. I was the class president at Sarayashiki Junior High for the three years I spent there and I know that my classmates liked me. I know this…because I've been asked on several dates. The president of the class before mine was not so lucky: I heard she had a campaign against the eating of candy during lunchtime." Keiko stopped for laughter. There was stifled laughter, but she also heard whispers of "She _is_ pretty hot." and for the sake of the campaign, Keiko would take it.

"And as for changes I would like to make, I have few, but I think you guys might like them. It's been brought to my attention that there are no sodas in the café. Have you noticed that? I know that my roommates and I have most certainly noticed this. I believe that with minimal work, we can have sodas in the café. I'll even take a poll on whether to get Coke or Pepsi products."

She paused again. Botan and Yukina were beaming at her, remembering that that was their idea. "It has also been brought to my attention that there are few clubs in the Academy for non-academic purposes. I'm sure we're all dedicated students, but we are teenagers that have other interests. If I'm elected, I promise to help and back all student groups who wish to get a new club started. Just think of the possibilities for a moment. I know that some of you aren't Japanese and you probably feel lonely sometimes. Why don't you start a club to celebrate your diversity? Last year, three percent of the student population said that their religion was 'Jedi'. How about a 'Star Wars' club for all of you to converse? It's nice to be around people just like you, isn't it?"

Keiko stopped, this time so that the students would soak in her point. She took in deep breaths, looking once more at her companions. Her roommates were still wearing huge grins, Kurama, as always, looked inquisitive, and Yusuke was staring straight into her body. She found herself starting to drift into thought, and to stop that from happening, started on her final point.

"There is…one last thing that I hope as president to change about this school. You see, my classmates, as a small child, I dreamed of being just like my mother. She had all these beautiful dresses, lovely black hair, and big blue eyes. She was a jewel and always had been.

"Now, my mother is dead, and I'm standing in this school, here before you. As I grew older, I no longer wanted to be like her, but I know there are many who still have this dream. My mother…was the homecoming queen." She stopped once more. "There is no homecoming or prom at Yamajiro. There never has been. With a little bit of work, we could change that. I know the other classes would surely help our cause, and even if we can't be on the court this year, we'll be recognized as the ones who came up with the idea. We'll become legends at this school for starting the tradition, and I bet when we're juniors, there won't be one senior on the courts. When we're seniors, there won't be any juniors. They'll speak our names in awe and thankfulness, years from now, when this tradition is old and taken for granted…just like it is everywhere else.

"Vote for me…and I promise you all of this. Thank you."

The students applauded and Keiko grinned, truly grinned, as she walked away from the podium, crumpling up her speech. She didn't know if she had convinced them…but she had done her best speech yet.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Three days later, Keiko was walking back to her dormitory with Yusuke. She wasn't quite sure why he had wanted to be around her in the first place, as he wasn't talking and she herself was lost in thought. Since last Wednesday, he'd been waiting outside her World History room every day, sometimes not even saying anything. It was awkward, to say the least, and especially awkward today.

"Are you forced into this?" Keiko finally said.

"Forced into what?" He asked.

"Walking me back to my dorm," She answered, "You've never seemed rather happy in doing it,"

He didn't respond and Keiko took this as that he didn't want to tell her why. She supposed you couldn't trust everything with someone else, but now they were back at square one, silence.

They walked by one of her campaign posters and Keiko stared at it for a few moments, finding something to say. "Yusuke?"

"What?"

"Did you vote for me?"

He became entranced with the wall to his right. "I said I would, didn't I?"

Keiko thought that the promise he'd made wasn't sincere, and that it was an unpremeditated statement, but she supposed she was wrong. She really didn't know what to say. "Well…thank you, Yusuke."

It was silent again: Keiko couldn't seem to keep a conversation alive. She'd felt like she had become closer to him in the past week and a half, but this must mean that she was wrong.

Keiko looked over at Yusuke, who seemed to be thinking deeply. She was almost startled when he started talking. "How did your mom die?" He asked.

Keiko's eyes widened. She hadn't felt good about saying that in her speech. She didn't think she was ready to tell anyone else about it, but none of her friends had remembered up to this point. She really didn't want to talk about it. "It's…I…You see…I don't really think I can talk about that right now."

He looked at her now, very curiously into the side of her face. Keiko figured that he was probably going through the bloodiest ways of dying, thinking of a woman dead by that method, and then seeing Keiko standing there, crying. A little off, but Keiko was sick of getting sympathy for the two losses.

Keiko saw a big blue sign on the wall in the distance, right by the door to the ladies' dorms. Her heart pounded, punching a hole in her body. She took off towards the sign, Yusuke staring at her as though she was a clown walking down a dark alley. "What was that for?" He yelled.

She looked back at him for a moment. "The votes are in!"

Keiko went down the list: Student council, secretary, treasurer, class president. She closed her eyes for a few seconds.

Then, she read.

**End Chapter 9**

**Katie's Note: **This has to be short and sweet, because I have to go to school. I wasn't totally happy with this chapter- I even took out a few scenes- but I think it's all right.

Late update will be made up for: I'm starting immediately on the next chapter. Please review!

Until my next update…Federer's winning Australian…yay!


	10. Results

"**Beautiful Disaster"**

**Chapter 10**

(Oooh, the big chapter 1-0! Hopefully I can write number 11 this time.)

_Oh and I don't know…_

_I don't know what he's after…_

_But he's so beautiful…_

_Such a beautiful disaster…_

"Class president…" Keiko whispered to herself, her heart thumping at light speed, "What?" She said, a little louder.

Yusuke had caught up to her at this point, standing behind her. "What's up?"

"There's no name," she said, confused, "In fact, there aren't enough names down for student council. I don't know what's going on!" Keiko began to fan herself, looking as though she could burst into tears any minute.

"Calm down, see that star thingy?" Yusuke pointed to a small dot on the poster next to "Student Council" and "Class President".

"An asterisk, Yusuke?"

He grumbled. "Doesn't it mean something?"

Keiko nodded and looked at the bottom of the poster. "There it is…" She began to read aloud.

"The votes were taken in all fifth hour classes, but one class' votes went missing. Some of the races were so lopsided that these final votes were irrelevant, but a few more positions on the student council and the outcome of the president race require these final votes. The voting for Sasaki's fifth hour literature course will be redone on Thursday during that hour." Keiko and Yusuke exchanged looks, looking back at the poster. "That means the voting was today."

Yusuke began to walk away from the poster. "How can you lose votes? More importantly, why am I even taking interest in this?"

"It is Sasaki-sensei, she's not the brightest woman," said Keiko, following him. Yusuke banged his head against the wall. "Why'd you do that?" she asked.

"Oh, it's nothing," He started rubbing his head from the pain.

"What is it?"

"Nothing,"

"We really are untrusting, aren't we?" She asked, expecting he'd say something thought-provoking.

"Yup," He answered, laughing. And Keiko had expected him to be intellectual…why? She started to laugh at herself, despite the predicament that she was in.

There was an awkward silence after they laughed, still standing in the hallway. Keiko looked around her for a moment, then looked at Yusuke, who had reverted back to his hand-in-pockets scowl. Keiko made a sign to him with a move of her neck and they kept walking, finally making it to her dormitory. She began to open the door to her room, but he didn't say any sort of goodbye. She waited a few more minutes and then took things into her own hands. "I suppose I'll see you…tomorrow? Hm?" she said.

His eyes widened and he looked at her as though she had just awoken him from a trance. He lifted one hand up, apparently for a wave, swiftly turned around, and walked off.

Keiko went inside her room to discover that no one was there. Botan was sometimes gone, but Yukina almost always was in her room, studying. Keiko sighed and sat down to do her history work, her mind swimming in worries of the vote count now that Yusuke was gone. She tried to tell her brain to stop, but that seemed to make the worries double until she shrieked, "Stop!" while covering her ears. Keiko heard the door open just as she said it.

Botan and Yukina stood in the doorway after her scream. Botan was so surprised that she'd let go of the door, which promptly hit her in the side. "Do you want…us to stop, Keiko-san?" Yukina asked.

"Oh…no! No…I was just…yelling…at myself, um…"

"Did you lose the election?" asked Botan.

"I very well could have, but they don't know yet,"

Botan and Yukina began to get situated in the dorm. "How can they not know?" Botan asked again.

"They said they lost a class' votes," Keiko answered. "So I have to wait until tomorrow."

"Well that's a horrible thing to do," said Botan. "Haven't you already waited enough?"

Keiko wasn't feeling up to talking now. "Yeah…it's kind of hectic."

Her two roommates seemed to get the message and found other activities. Keiko began to look at her history work again, still worrying silently in her mind.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

She didn't know if it was a dream or if it was really happening. Of course, there was no way it could be happening because of the school's curfew: No one was to talk, and they were surely to get in large trouble if they did.

But something in her brain told Keiko that the black she saw before her was not dreamland, but her room. She refused to believe that: It was impossible.

So Keiko came to the conclusion when she was sitting at breakfast that it had all been a dream. And an odd dream it was…

"_Hello?" A young girl's voice rang out. There was no reply. "Hello?" she asked again. Still no answer. "Please, I know you're out there, somewhere, even you wouldn't violate the rules. Please tell me where you are!" _

_Keiko couldn't hear a thing, but it was obvious that the girl could. "There you are!" She yelled in excitement. "I've been looking for you all day!" _

_Now Keiko heard another voice, a stern, male one. "I don't want to talk to you right now." _

_She couldn't see anything, but the girl seemed dumbfounded. "You don't? Why not?" _

"_Do I _ever_ want to talk to you?" said the male._

"_Sometimes I thought you did-" _

"_Well, I don't, so make your happy little story quick," _

_The girl sighed. "I was talking with someone today, and you know what they said?" The boy didn't say "What?", so she went on. "They said that the air in these mountains can sometimes have healing effects. And I immediately started to think of you! To tell the truth, I've been thinking about you a lot lately, maybe-" _

"_All right, I listened to your happy story of the day. Now leave."_

"_What?" The girl said. _

"_Leave."_

"_But-" _

That was where the dream ended, she told herself, biting a piece of bacon. It almost sounded like a conversation between her and Yusuke- almost. She thought with a shiver that maybe this was where her life was headed. A most unpleasant thought, Keiko knew, and she found herself toying with her food.

"Keiko-san?" Yukina asked. "Is everything okay?"

Keiko blushed and forced a forkful of scrambled eggs down her throat. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm all right," Keiko said, eating some more eggs. She tried not to think of anything unhappy in the meantime.

Yes…this was going to be a long year. One long, odd year.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The bell rang over the PA and the students in Keiko's world history class began running out like hungry wolves. Keiko collapsed on her desk, groaning. The day had gone slow and drained of excitement.

She knew the winners of the election were probably posted around the school by now, and she was both excited and nervous. One second she decided she would not look and the next second she couldn't wait to look. Of course, she'd have to find out sometime, but what if…what if she just didn't?

Keiko sighed and slowly got up from her desk. She picked up her books and sauntered out of the classroom, looking around for Yusuke. Sure enough, he was leaning against the wall. "What took you so long?" he asked.

"I'm tired," Keiko answered. "Ready for Sunday,"

"You do know they put up the results, don't you?"

"Yeah, let's go che-"

Yusuke grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her back so forcefully that Keiko ended up slamming into him. He seemed unfazed. "What was that for?" Keiko screamed.

"I ripped a poster off the wall."

"I don't know whether that's chivalrous or violating school policy," said Keiko, noticing the poster in his other hand.

"Neither: It was a way to vent."

"How do I know there's another part to the story?"

He gave his usual cocky smile. "I needed to destroy something to get some anger out, and of course there would be some backlash from students…"

Keiko shook her head and took the poster from him. "All elected members report to Abe-sensei's room immediately after reading this poster…" She took a deep breath and began to read. "Treasurer, no…secretary…"

_CLASS PRESIDENT: YUKIMURA KEIKO_

Keiko felt like doing cartwheels, backflips, jumping around in circles, but she felt a larger impulse to give someone a gigantic hug, and, unfortunately, the nearest person was Yusuke. He looked completely violated, but Keiko couldn't care at all. "Goodbye, Yusuke!" She yelled as she skipped down the hallway.

Oh, the boredom was worth it. The long, unbearable wait was worth it for this moment. Keiko had succeeded in the thing in the world that gave her the most pleasure. She could hear all the congrats she'd get from adults and students, she could hear the salon exploding with cheers and combs thrown in the air. Keiko was president of a boarding school- imagine that!

In her excitement, she almost skipped right into the door of Abe-sensei's room. Stopping herself, she opened the door to find that she was rather early. There was one other student already there. Keiko sat by her. They each congratulated each other and by that time two more students came in, and of course they had to be congratulated as well, and then a few more and the chain started over again. In a short while, the whole council was present.

Abe-sensei stood up. "I think the president should speak first,"

Keiko nodded and began to speak from her seat. She concealed her complete happiness and went into serious mode. "Okay…from my speech, you know that my first little 'fundraising' projects are for more soda in the café and for a homecoming dance. To go into detail on the soda part, I think we should poll the student body on their favorite soda and then write letters to the most popular companies to see if we can get some soda. I think as long as we promise to advertise, we'll get some.

"As for homecoming, we need to contact the other three student councils to see if they will pitch in for the dance. After that, all the classes could go into town and fundraise separately: For instance, the seniors could have a car wash, the juniors could sell food there, the sophomores could sell food there, and maybe we could sell food somewhere else. And back at school, we could put little boxes to donate for homecoming around the school…Man, my head's just exploding with new ideas…my friend back home runs a hair and nail salon and they could have a little box too…and of course if you guys come up with any ideas…"

"I have a question," said one of the girls."

"Yes?"

"What will the theme be?"

"I think we should let the seniors decide: After all, this is their last year.

"Okay." Keiko tried to remember where she was. "Oh, yeah, we'll also need to find a date that cooperates with the school and with us. Since it's the beginning of September now, I think we should have it the first or second week of October. Then, like you asked, we'll pick the theme, buy decorations, have voting for the court, and voila! A homecoming dance."

The student council was still extremely quiet, so she went on. "Let's get cracking!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Keiko was staggering into her dormitory and when she finally got in, she collapsed on the floor. No more talking about fundraisers for the rest of the night, she thought, getting back up.

"Cards?" Yukina asked.

"No," Keiko panted, getting on her bed. "I'll just lie here,"

"Did you lose?" said Botan, shuffling the deck.

She smiled slightly at this. "Quite the contrary."

Impulsively Botan dropped the deck on her bed and went over to give Keiko one of the biggest hugs women can give. Yukina stood behind her, her face caught between a happy smile and a wince at what seemed like unbearable pain. Keiko was uncomfortable, but she accepted the pain as an odd expression of happiness. Botan let go after a few moments, hopping up and down with excitement. "So, when's homecoming?"

"We have to find a date that cooperates with the school and us," Keiko answered.

"Well, if you need me to do any fundraising, I'll do it!" Botan had stopped hopping and raised her hand up to show her promise to volunteer.

"Me too," Yukina said softly.

"Um…okay, I'll tell the council," Keiko replied. There went her plan to not talk about fundraisers. "Right now, I just want to rest until dinnertime."

"All right," said Botan, grabbing Yukina's arm. "If you need us, we'll be at the café,"

Keiko smiled at them as they left, laying in tranquility. She decided that when she had all of her energy, that she would call Shizuru. For now, she could do nothing but rest.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

"Yeah, this is Shizuru Kuwabara. I've obviously got better things to do than answer my phone right now, so leave a message and I'll get back when I don't."

Keiko groaned. Where could Shizuru possibly be?

She called again, frustrated.

Beep…

Beep…

Beep…

"Yeah, this is-" Click. She's always at home at this hour!

Okay, try again, Keiko thought, calming herself down. 652…

Wait a minute: That's Shizuru's cell phone! Keiko mentally slapped herself, calling the home line.

Beep…

Be- "Hello?" said Kazuma, totally unenthusiastic.

"Is Shizuru there?"

"Oh, hey, Keiko," he answered. "Yeah, she's here. Let me get her." On the other end, Kazuma yelled his sister's name several times. Keiko heard her voice a little later, annoyed and faint.

"Keiko?" said Shizuru. "Got some new gossip?"

"No, the final voting results came in today,"

"Really?" Shizuru was suddenly a lot more interested. "Did you win? Did you?"

Keiko smiled to herself again, knowing what was soon to come. "Yes," she answered.

"I knew you could do it, Keiko! Hey, Kazuma, Keiko won the election!" There was a muffled "Congrats". "So, what now?"

"I'm going to try to organize a homecoming dance,"

"They don't already have one?" Shizuru asked, surprised.

"No," said Keiko, "I was wondering if you could collect money at your salon, like in a little UNICEF box or something,"

"Keiko, I'll put one out, and you can't forget all of my friends. Should we label it the autism association or something?"

"No way, Shizuru! Just put 'Help a School Have Its First Homecoming'." Don't mention what school if you can help it." Keiko knew if people saw the name of a boarding school, they would most likely not be obliged.

"Don't worry- this thing will be so widespread that it'll be Tokyo's newest trend," Shizuru paused for a moment. "So, what's new with Yusuke?"

Keiko blushed. "Shizuru, don't you have anything else to think about?"

"Tell you the truth…no. No one else in my life is about to get a smokin' hot date for Yamajiro's first homecoming."

"No I'm-Put Kazuma on the line."

Shizuru sighed. "Well, it can't be helped that you haven't started liking boys yet." She heard Shizuru put the phone down and yell for Kazuma, who came trotting down the stairs.

"You need something, Keiko?" Kazuma asked after he had picked up the phone.

"Has Shizuru always been this guy-crazy?"

"It's only 'cause she cares…her own lovelife went down the drain, so she likes to get involved in other peoples' lovelives." Kazuma seemed more philosophical than usual.

"Oh, that one guy?" Keiko asked, remembering faintly Shizuru's story about the rich man.

"Yeah, him," Kazuma was lost in thought for a few minutes. "Anything else?"

"How's school?"

"People always ask me about you," said Kazuma, "They ask 'Where's Keiko?' and I tell them, and they always seem sort of disappointed."

"Of course, it should be noted that you go to an all-boys school."

Kazuma laughed about something. "And when I tell them that you're coming home for Christmas, they get really excited. We might have a lot of people hanging around us come winter."

Keiko shook her head. "Some things can't be helped."

There was a long pause after this, which Kazuma finally ended. "I've been meaning to ask…how are your roommates?"

"Just fine. They're my good friends."

"No, I meant how they were feeling," Kazuma told her.

"Oh! Yukina's always very cheery…" She heard Kazuma give a dreamy sigh,"…and Botan can get a little stressed at times, but otherwise she's just as bubbly."

"Thanks, Keiko."

"You don't have to thank me, Kazuma." Keiko colored again.

"Of course I do. Just keep it up- You have no idea how great of a deed you're doing."

Keiko sighed. What was she, the one to tell all of your creepy thoughts? First the voices, then Kurama, then Yukina, and now Kazuma? Keiko didn't want to be unpleasant, however, so she politely said, "Kazuma, I should go."

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye." She hung up her phone and sighed, falling on her bed. Things were just getting weirder and weirder. Was this what happened when you went to high school? She knew about hormones and discovering yourself, but did everyone go through this creepy stage as well?

Keiko groaned and flipped her boombox on, deciding to concentrate on the good things and maybe dance a little.

She was class president, and at the end of the day, that was all that mattered.

**End Chapter 10**

**Katie's Note: **In my opinion, this isn't a really good chapter. The only thing I really wanted to happen was that Keiko won the election, she told everyone, and the "dream", so that's why it's shorter than the other ones. I apologize.

THANK YOU ALL for the amazing reviews for chapter 9! I had thirteen reviews for that chapter, which made me one of the happiest people in the world! If I got that for every chapter…whoa! I would probably die of a happy heart. Wouldn't that be great?

Also, a thanks to a lilmatchgirl and Turning Memories Into Wings for putting me in their C2s! I finally got in the Yusuke/Keiko C2…I'm so happy! Also, a thanks to any new people who put this story on their alert or favorites. I can't tell who the new people are, but thanks so much!

A less positive note: I'm getting a lot of griping about the lack of Kurama/Botan. While I can say that the next chapter will have a little, please keep in mind that the summary says MILD. That means there isn't much and this is also Keiko's story, not Botan's. Please understand: I still want you to read, but don't gripe because a pairing is mild. You were warned beforehand.

**Until my next update**…Federer won Australian! I taped it…so now whenever I'm sad, I can watch it and feel better.


	11. Bad Day

"**Beautiful Disaster" **

**Chapter 11**

(Hey! For fun this chapter, **if you can guess what song this is, or who sings it, I'll dedicate the next chapter to you! **Or, if you get them both, two chapters! My only clue is that the artist is on my user page. If no one gets it, I'll post more lyrics…)

_On the floors of Tokyo-o, _

_Or down in London town to go-go,_

_With the record selection,_

_And the mirror's reflection,_

_I'm a-dancing with myself…_

(And now, for the chapter.)

The last three days had certainly taken their toll on Keiko. If her hours put forward to homecoming and other council duties had been counted as credits, Keiko bet that she could graduate tomorrow. All she had thought about, talked about, everything she had done in those days was for the student council. She hadn't even acknowledged her roommates.

On Friday, Keiko had called the other three student councils down to Abe-sensei's room to try and win them over. The seniors were definitely for the idea, the juniors were skeptical at first, but agreed shortly after the seniors, but the sophomores refused completely, saying they had other plans for their cash. Of course, when Abe-sensei announced that the majority had already won, they had no choice. With that many people in one small classroom, it took some time for ideas to get around. Lots of time, to be exact. Keiko had skipped dinner that night, too talked out to even eat. The voices weren't there that early and she got a semblance of a good night's sleep.

The classes decided a slight bit on Friday, but couldn't really sort anything out until Saturday. It was decided then, with much argument, that the freshmen would sell cookies and candy in the cafeteria, the sophomores would be in charge of donation boxes in school and around town, the juniors would take turns being moving donation boxes in town after school, and the seniors would run a car wash. Keiko also informed them of her own donation box in Tokyo, where she expected to get large revenue. Although there was much fighting, it all turned out all right in the end for the council meeting. Keiko, once again, was pooped, but this time attended dinner. She didn't do much talking, however, and found later on that she hadn't even recognized that Botan and Yukina were near her. She got considerably less sleep that night.

Keiko, for a long time, didn't think she'd survive Sunday's meeting. They had come together to sort out who bought what for the dance. The seniors believed that as freshmen, the first council should do the most, making Keiko snap back that their bank account was virtually broke at the moment. This almost became an all-out war until Abe-sensei returned from her bathroom break, saying that the juniors were to be the most responsible. The juniors were generally a pushover council (Keiko had observed this earlier) and agreed without much thought. They, said Abe-sensei, would have the charge of the décor of the ballroom, at the discretion of the seniors (Who had decided the theme was "Palace at Versailles"), as well as the cleanup before and after the dance. And after even more bickering, it was decided that the seniors were in charge of the food, the sophomores were to assist the other classes with funding and get the music, and the freshmen were instructed to, after hearing about Keiko's lovely campaign posters, to advertise and help with cleanup (The cleaning up responsibility was mainly because the one senior who had favored the freshmen to pay the most wanted to get back at Keiko).

And after all of the miserable planning was done, Keiko went back to her dormitory and lay on her bed, ready to have a day of resting (Her council mates had pushed rest on to her instead of baking sweets with them.).

Unfortunately, Keiko had forgotten that tomorrow was Monday.

She wanted the world to go to hell.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

It was biology class that Monday, and although Keiko was sitting right next to Botan and all anyone in the class had to do was a silly lab on microscopes, she was still in an extremely foul mood.

Keiko had been thinking about student council all night, living and breathing the stupid thing as she usually did, and when she tried to stop, she noticed the noises outside were at it again. Keiko couldn't sleep in very much and didn't have an appetite for breakfast, so she just went straight to class.

She had no energy and no incentive to do anything.

"Keiko?" Botan asked, poking her shoulder. "Are you all right? I'm beginning to think this student council thing isn't healthy for you."

She smiled weakly. "It's not unhealthy for me- I thrive on it, actually, it's just the whole weekend…"

"I don't know how you thrive on it if it's sucking your life away. We haven't had a conversation in three days!"

Keiko raised an eyebrow. "We…haven't?"

Botan seemed to want to laugh, but she didn't. "No, you've been going to class brain dead, then you go to student council, then you go to dinner, take a shower, maybe, and then collapse on your bed like a giant ball of jelly. After all of that, you repeat it the next day."

Keiko smiled again. "I suppose I've been sleepwalking through this, then."

"Get your rest and I'll do the lab."

"What? You can't-I'll-" She waved her arms in protest, slightly energized for the sake of argument.

"Oh, stop it Keiko. Can you even think straight? What's twenty-four quadrillion divided by eight quadrillion?"

Keiko was starting to doze off again. "It's-how am I…how am I supposed…a ton of quadrillions?"

Botan turned to the lab in victory. "See? Keiko Yukimura on a normal day would have answered that question correctly."

"Where'd you get such a stupid, deranged question anyway?"

She was filling out the paper on the table, messing with a microscope. "Thought it up while I was talking to Kurama-kun."

"And when was this?"

Botan seemed suddenly annoyed. "Get some sleep, Keiko."

Keiko decided it was time to be immature. She stuck her tongue out. "Not until you tell me."

"Sunday, in the café. Are you satisfied?"

"So why did you think up the question?"

"I gave you what you asked for. Get some rest, Keiko! You've been working really hard all weekend." Botan gave her a big, sweet smile. She wasn't sure if it was sincere.

Keiko knew it was obviously important, or otherwise Botan wouldn't be on the defensive, but she knew she wouldn't get anything out of her.

Figures, Keiko thought. I get another stupid mystery to worry about.

Her day just kept getting better and better. Wonderful.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

She wandered into her study hall, too tired to even move anymore and too lazy to do her homework once she found her seat next to Yusuke. "Look who's back from the dead," he muttered.

Her head was buried in her elbow. "Student council," She snapped, but it was muffled. Why did he care, anyway? He didn't seem to care about her much…and at the same time, he did. And on top of all of that, there was some voice in the back of her head that wanted him to care. So she asked. "Don't you have better things to do, like blow up people's skirts, for instance?"

"No one interests me under there as much as you, my sweet Keiko," He couldn't hold it for much longer and burst out laughing, while looking away from her. Keiko was too tired to slap him. "But seriously, no, there isn't anything else. There's always an awkward silence when I talk to Yukina, like I'd do my homework, and everyone else I have a remote connection with-"

"Kurama and Botan?" Keiko blurt out.

"Yeah, them, they did some interesting stuff while you were dead,"

She cringed. "Interesting?"

Yusuke seemed to realize what he'd said. "I don't mean anything like that, just on Sunday, erm," He looked over to the left, where Kurama was staring out the window, lost in thought, "I can't say anything right now because he's right next to me. He'll probably say that thing that freaks me out again." He either was scared to death or had a friendly respect.

"What's going on that no one can talk about? I'm not in the mood to be tantalized, Yusuke."

"It's actually not that big of a deal, but he's- my brain's fried."

"Your words are poetic, Yusuke."

"I pride myself."

"So, what actually happened?"

"You could really go on without knowing."

"Not when everyone around me is surrounded in it."

There was a pause. Yusuke's eyes averted to Kurama, who wasn't paying attention, and back to Keiko. He leaned in to whisper to his ear, his voice husky. "On Sunday he cornered her in the café, sweet-talked her, and gave her something very nice that crosses my mind right now. At first she was totally entranced and took the offering and then apparently realized what was going on and said she couldn't accept it and left quickly, which, of course, would bum out any guy. But Keiko, you don't know Kurama quite like I do: He doesn't get rejected. And I don't mean because of all those crazy girls. He's got…this thing where he thinks he can get any chick he wants. Can't blame him totally because as far as I know he's been able to do that. Obviously he didn't this time, and now he's over there calculating all sorts of new ways to fix it."

"I honestly can't believe Kurama's like that." Keiko whispered back. "He doesn't seem to be the sort of person who's really into dating."

"He isn't, but I guess you could say that he has a…sort of…other personality that can appear sometimes."

"Do you honestly think that's believable?" Keiko said. Was she the only one in the world who didn't believe in weird things?

"You never know who's got some freaky secret. I'm telling you, the guy isn't exactly what you think he is."

"Kurama must be a deep person, but I hardly think that he could be like that."

Yusuke sighed. "Remember what he said when he bumped into Botan?"

Unwillingly, Keiko heard Kurama in her head again. She shivered more than usual. "All right, say I take your word for it. What else can you tell me?"

He gave her a sharp glare but started off anyway. "Kurama was totally off guard. Still is, but he's, like I said, figuring out some other method of getting her. God! It's just great. I told him this would happen someday, but he didn't think so. Vain, vain fox boy." Yusuke smirked as though he'd won some great bet.

"Well, aren't you nice today?" Keiko mused.

"I could say the same about you almost every day." She glared, but he didn't back down.

They were interrupted by a very loud, "Minamino-kuuuun!" just a few feet from them. It was the same girl who had kicked Keiko out of her seat on the first day of school. Kurama didn't even seem to notice her, which seemed extremely hard to Keiko.

The girl waved a hand in his face. "Minamino-kun? Are you with us?"

Coming out of his trance, the redhead almost fell right out of his chair. "Yes, I'm quite here. Anything I can assist you with?" And just like that, he was normal Shuuichi Minamino again.

"We were just worried," said another girl, "You looked upset, and we h-h-heard…t-t-that…"

"That someone turned you down!" The leader piped in. "And we want you to know that she's the only person in the whole world that would ever, ever, resist you, Minamino-kun!"

"I guess I don't exist," Keiko mumbled to herself.

"Turn me down?" Kurama looked at them in a most confused fashion. "You must be mistaken, that wouldn't be me. I _don't_ get turned down."

Yusuke was right, she thought. He had a _definite_ complex. So he really did have another side. She should have known that ages ago, that he could be an absolutely perfect, romantic person and then turn and be a master of seduction. After being led right to it, it was so obvious…

"Of course, Minamino-kun!" said the leader, blushing in embarrassment. "We knew it was probably just a nasty rumor that a rival boy spread, but we had to make sure, as your most loyal companions! We should have remembered that no human being can resist your charm!" They walked off, bickering with one another in disappointment. Keiko and Yusuke exchanged disgusted looks about their last sentence.

"Geez, Kurama, just admit it," Yusuke said, much to Keiko's mental protest, "You got rejected. Botan doesn't want you."

He laughed. "If that's the way you work at matters of the heart, you're never going to win. If Mr. Darcy had given up so easily, _Pride and Prejudice_ would certainly be dull, wouldn't it? I just have to wait a while for the smoke to clear and try again. Feelings aren't permanent, Yusuke."

Yusuke replied with an eye-roll and began to throw paper airplanes at random people. Keiko tried to go to sleep again, and as usual, something amazing had just happened, so she couldn't.

Why did the world suddenly hate her?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Everyone's here," Keiko noted that on her clipboard, scanning the room again. "So, how was the cookie-baking?"

The council giggled at each other. "Fun," they said, "But it was good that you missed it. You needed the rest."

"I didn't get any," Keiko answered sadly.

Their heads lowered. "Well, try to, okay?" said a perky girl, Michiko-san. "You're so dedicated…it's great, but no one's a superhero."

"Anyway, about the cookies-"

"We've got hundreds!" said Michiko. "We just kept baking and baking. We all tried one, and they're great! We were wondering if we could even start selling tomorrow."

Keiko nodded. "That would be fine…I'll sell for the second shift, but I'll need help…"

Michiko and another girl raised their hands. "Okay…how about first shift?" She had four volunteers and put all of their names down. "Now that that's out of the way, I asked someone in a rush on Saturday to get one of the seniors to organize a date. Did anyone do that?"

"Yup!" said a member named Kasumi-san, on the first shift. "The date is October fifth."

Keiko gave a short-lived smile. "Good date." She wrote it down on her paper. "Our other responsibility that matters at the moment is advertising for this event. It's the beginning of the second week of September, so it needs to be quick. The theme is 'Palace of Versailles' and we need a nice poster, complete with a slogan. Any suggestions?"

The room fell silent for a moment as everyone pondered. A hand shot up. "We should put something French on there, like French bread or cooked snails!"

"That would be fine, but it's a dance," Keiko answered.

"What if we did it entirely in French?" said another.

"Would everyone understand that?"

"Well, we'd leave translations,"

"I know few people who really stop to look at advertisements," Keiko said, bluntly.

"Good point." The girl was disheartened.

Michiko's hand went up. "What if we had a royal purple background with a black silhouette of Cinderella dancing with the prince on it? I mean, it's a palace and all, and it goes with the dancing theme."

Keiko liked the idea. "Anyone against this?" No objections were made. "Okay. Now, what about the slogan, using this poster?"

The room was quiet again, but this time for much longer. Keiko tried herself to think of something, but she couldn't. She always had to make something rhyme to sound good, and nothing for this could possibly rhyme.

Kasumi raised her hand. "Yes?" Keiko asked.

She paused before speaking. "Dreams do come true." There was no immediate reply. "You know…because everyone wants to be the homecoming queen, and there's no homecoming? Or it could be more personal, like someone's love life getting healed at the dance…"

Michiko nodded in support. "I like it. It has that sort of…professional feel to it."

"Any objections?" None. "All right then, partly because of my bad mood, and partly because I can't think of anything off the top of my head to discuss, I call this meeting off. Go have normal lives."

Keiko sank back into her desk after they'd all left. She could hardly move anymore. It was good, of course, that the meeting had gone so quickly and without protest, but even that blessing wouldn't give her strength.

Abe-sensei looked up. "I know you're tired, but there's this old janitor that cleans my room and he's rumored to molest successful students. It might be in your best interest to book it out of here before he comes around."

Keiko nodded, slowly rising from the seat. "I know." She left the room and went to her dorm feeling like her legs were pulling her various body parts along.

**End Chapter 11**

**Katie's Note**: That was more information on the homecoming preparations than I'm sure anyone cared to know. For the next chapter or so, I'm not exactly sure how long chapter-wise, Keiko's not going to be a happy camper. Why? Well, she is preparing for a dance, cut the girl some slack.

Hiei is finally going to officially appear in chapter thirteen. You'll see why I use such wording when he comes in.

As for Kurama, if you can't tell his Youko side is a little more present in this fic. Spells trouble for Botan, who apparently just wants to get away from him. It isn't likely that she'll succeed, as you can see. Not the action that everyone really wants, but that's the plot. Sorry…

Well, I think I'm going a little too fast, but nothing else could have possibly happened in this worthless filler chapter. Things will get interesting again when Hiei appears, and shortly after that is homecoming preparations with Shizuru! I love Shizuru in this fic…she's so nosy. xD

**Until my next update**, I shall be watching the Australian Open tape in tears, for my precious Federer hath been defeated…


	12. Sweets

"**Beautiful Disaster" **

**Chapter 12**

_This chapter dedicated to_ TheBigW, Heartmonger, _and_ Crysatl-chan! _(She's on DA) Because I feel like it, here are some more lyrics for you to guess! I'll give a clue if no one gets it…_

_With just a little luck…_

_A little cold blue steel…_

_I cut the night like a razor blade…_

_Till I feel the way I want to feel…_

"Cookies! Cookies!" Michiko screamed throughout the dining hall, as perky as she had ever been. "Come get your cookies! Tasty and delicious!" No one seemed to hear her, or her quieter accomplices. Keiko had taken a break from screaming (She still wasn't very happy) and the other council member wasn't as outspoken as Michiko. "Keiko-san, do you think we're colorful enough?"

I have never seen teenagers turn down a damn cookie, Keiko thought angrily to herself. "Hmm, Michiko?"

"Are we colorful enough?" The girl repeated.

Keiko sighed. "Michiko, we're a bubblegum stand. We've got a big pink sign and a yellow stand brighter than a flashlight in your face. I just don't understand it- every kid in middle school would jump for a cookie or a king size pack of peanut butter cups."

The other two sellers groaned in unison and looked out to the hall. "Support homecoming and your stomachs- buy cookies!" Michiko tried. Perplexed, she turned to Keiko again. "Do you think we're loud enough?"

"You're certainly loud enough, I would think." Keiko said, restraining herself from snapping. "Maybe we need megaphones. Now that you say it, that's probably the only reason people aren't coming."

Keiko looked over at the little corner where she usually ate with the two boys in her study hall. Usually Yusuke was the easier to spot, as he sported the eye-catching only green jumpsuit in the room, but she didn't see him. Kurama, however, was sitting in the corner, munching in a most mannerly way on a submarine sandwich. Telling herself not to think about the incident a few days ago, she did the very thing. He was one of the nicest people she had ever met…and yet, he could scare her more than anyone else as well.

Attempting to avert her thoughts from him, she looked around the rest of the hall, seeing Yusuke in a totally opposite corner. He appeared to be talking to a certain Takanaka-san, who was the prince of the castle school (Albeit a freshman like Keiko), to Kurama's king. Keiko couldn't see why Yusuke would associate himself with this person at all until he gave Takanaka an out-of-the-blue kick in the knee. He didn't even look like he was using any power to knock the kid into the wall, clutching his leg. They talked a little longer and then Yusuke walked away. Takanaka stared at him frightfully as he left.

Yusuke walked by the stand, smiling as though he'd won a great battle. "Sorry, I'm broke, but I hear I've got a buddy who's so nice he's buying a cookie for me. See you in English." Keiko gave him the worst glare she could come up with, burying her head underneath the stand.

"Something you need to tell us, Keiko?" said Michiko.

"Friend," was Keiko's muffled reply. "Sort of,"

"Can I buy a cookie?" said an angelic voice.

Michiko looked up, pushing Keiko out of her position. Both put on very cheesy smiles- it was Takanaka. "Actually, make that two," he said. "No, three," He looked up at the prices and put down the correct amount.

Keiko handed him three chocolate chip cookies. "Thank you very much for supporting homecoming, Takanaka-san!"

Walking off, he gave a nod like it was no big deal.

"Can you believe how kind he is?" Michiko pressed a napkin to her chest dramatically. "Takanaka-san! Buying cookies when no one else will? How chivalrous!"

Keiko couldn't share her excitement after seeing Yusuke beat him up. "Hmm."

Suddenly, the dining hall erupted. Takanaka-san sat down, shaking his head to flip his hair in a most seductive way. Hordes of students, witnessing the purchase, stood and walked toward the stand with the sign "Buy Sweets- Support Homecoming!" and two dumbfounded girls watching as their cookies suddenly became the toast of the hall (Keiko, in her mood, was musing on the stupidity of followers). In a flash, the girls worried that they may not be able to sell cookies to everyone before the bell rang, though they would end up victorious in that respect.

And Keiko didn't realize until her World History class what a certain someone might have done solely for her.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Directly after school, Keiko went into the art room, where she found only Kasumi waiting for her inside. She was sitting at one of the tables, bending over to work on what Keiko guessed was a poster. She didn't seem to have any pencils near her, which confused Keiko. "How's it coming along?" she asked.

"Oh, this is just a test to see if you approve," the student replied, sitting up. "I just finished applying the last part. You can come look at it if you like- I know it's a little off what you guys seemed to want, but I thought it would look better this way."

Puzzled, Keiko walked over to where Kasumi had been working, looking down at the test poster. It was, actually, rather similar to what the council had envisioned: It was a large piece of purple paper with black paper cut in shapes of a staircase, Cinderella, the prince, and a few spectators. At the top, in a pretty font and silver ink, was "Dreams do come true…" and at the bottom was "Homecoming October Fifth". Keiko had imagined something done with colored pencils, like her campaign posters, but she found the test poster very pretty indeed.

"I like it," said Keiko. "It looks very…fancy. Yeah, that's the word."

"Really?" Kasumi answered.

"Of course. Once the others-"

"Hello!" Michiko yelled loudly, followed by the rest of the council. "We're here!"

"As I was saying, once the others get here, they'll help you, and I'll, well, start hanging up posters," Keiko finished, picking up Kasumi's poster. "Look at this, you guys. This is what all the posters will look like, okay? Kasumi's got the tools." She put the poster back down and watched as the council took their seats and worked. Michiko handed her the box of money for the cookies for Keiko to sort and count. She sat on the floor and began doing so as the council made posters.

In another hour (Kasumi had to make prototypes for the not-so-skilled members to trace), the first student yelled "Done!" and handed Keiko his poster. Walking out, Keiko put the first poster outside of the dining hall. She came back in and finished counting the money when Michiko finished a poster. This one Keiko put inside the café. Things proceeded like this until dinnertime, when just enough posters had been made.

"How much money did we make?" A member named Akira asked before the group set off for dinner.

"A little bit," said Keiko, "Because we don't have to pay for anything, we're going to donate the money to the seniors and juniors, who are buying food and décor. The amount will make it a very happily accepted donation."

"We don't have to buy anything?" Kasumi asked.

"Considering we haven't been raising money for years, no, but we still have to help raise money and then give it to the other classes. It's…complicated." The council nodded. "Dinner, anyone?"

"Dinner!" Michiko shouted with glee. "It's tacos!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Keiko sat down next to Yukina in their little section of the hall. Botan was on Yukina's other side, and across the table were the boys, talking amongst themselves. Yukina gave a tiny wave and a sweet smile, then taking a delicate bite into her soft taco. Botan was apparently in her own little world, eating quietly.

Yukina had taken notice of Keiko's horrible mood for the past six days and was making sure to be as amiable towards her as possible. She sometimes double-checked what she was about to say for things that may set the younger girl off. "How was your day?", for instance, was a large no-no.

"Did you sell lots of cookies on your lunch shift?" Yukina asked.

Keiko looked over at her. "Yeah,"

She nodded. "I bought one. So did Botan,"

"Really? Thanks," Keiko, on the other hand, knew always to have her manners towards Yukina, even in her current state.

They ate in silence for a while longer before Botan spoke up. "I got a pass to go into town,"

"For all of us?" Keiko asked.

"Yeah, all of us. I was thinking that we could go to this ice cream joint. I saw a picture in the town brochure outside the office. It's very cute, very small. It's on me."

"Sounds lovely," said Kurama, "What day?"

"Sunday. What about the rest of you?"

"Do I ever turn down food?" Yusuke answered, while chewing.

"Ice cream's my favorite." Yukina replied. The boys looked at her and laughed to each other, obviously about an inside joke.

"Don't even have to ask," Keiko said nonchalantly, taking another bite.

Botan smiled. "Oh, this is going to be so great! I do love treating people," She shook her arms around in happiness. "Just meet at our dorm on Sunday!"

Everyone nodded, most excited, and continued eating.

When Keiko was done, she looked up and saw Yusuke standing in the same corner he'd been in while beating up Takanaka-san. She had been planning to thank him personally about his actions, although they had been slightly violent, because they had received quite a lot of money. After counting all of it, her touchy mood had temporarily subsided.

She stood up, putting her napkin on the table, and walked over to his corner. She started to feel nervous as she got closer and couldn't understand why. He looked surprised when he finally realized that she was coming over to him.

Keiko's mouth suddenly couldn't make words. She opened her mouth and forced herself to speak. "You did something at lunch today,"

"Yeah, I beat up Takanaka. What's it to you?"

Keiko blushed. He thought she was mad at him! Oh, what was she going to do now…quick, say something! "No, I don't mean it like that, I-" She slowed herself down with a deep breath. "You did, well, beat up that boy, but you did it for a really nice cause. So…thank you."

He didn't say "You're welcome", not that Keiko expected him to, but just put a hand up and looked away from her, his face coloring slightly. She turned around and walked to her dorm, looking back at him one last time.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

At eleven on Sunday morning, Keiko thought she was feeling a lot better. Council was becoming more routine and less of a giant bomb. She imagined things would worsen again when it was time to decorate and clean up the hall, but for now she was starting to regain her regular disposition.

Keiko took out a pen and carefully wrote on her left hand "Call Shizuru". She kept forgetting every day to do so. She imagined Shizuru, lighting a cigarette with "Seinfeld" blaring on the TV and sitting by the phone, answering it in a heartbeat whenever it rang. It made her giggle to think about it.

She was wearing an outfit she'd picked herself- a light pink dress with puffed short sleeves and a large skirt to her knees. Botan was wearing her hair up and had a tight red jacket with a pair of black pants. She had wrapped a red ribbon with a pink rose around her hair tie. Yukina had a little white dress on that Keiko and Botan had already showered her with coos over.

There was a knock on the door and Botan eagerly answered it to reveal Yusuke and Kurama. Yusuke had his jumpsuit on, as usual, and Kurama had a chest-revealing, button-up white shirt, contrasted by…black pants. Botan blushed and looked to the side before leading the way out of the school.

A security guard stopped them and Botan flashed her pass. They let the five of them right through after that.

For the first few minutes of the journey into town, everyone was quiet, and Keiko didn't know if it was because none of them had been into town or because no one knew what to say. It was mostly eye contact from person to person, sort of like everyone was looking at everyone and saying, "Say something".

Yukina, strangely, was the first. "Keiko, are you going to Tokyo before homecoming?"

The boys' eyes lit up. Keiko nodded. "Shizuru and her friends are going to help get me ready. I'll also get to see Kazuma and the other people from my middle school…"

"Is Kazuma a friend?" Botan asked.

"I guess you could call him that," said Keiko. "He's Shizuru's little brother, my age. He used to be a gangster, but he's still extremely strong. Reminds me of Yusuke, actually."

The one mentioned made a gagging noise. "What?" Keiko asked.

"I could beat him," Yusuke kicked a rock as he walked.

She looked on. "Maybe…say, maybe you guys could come to Tokyo with me- no, wait, I don't think we have enough room…maybe for winter break!"

"That'd be nice," Botan said. "Shizuru sounds like a good time."

"Yeah…hey look, is that the store?"

"No, that's another place," Botan fiddled with her fingers for a moment. She muttered something about how the boys weren't talking at all when Kurama came up to her and complimented her on her hair accessory. She blushed, thanking him, and turned around to talk to Yukina.

Keiko was rather hopelessly trying to engage conversation with Yusuke before she brought up video games (Living with a teenage boy for a summer greatly helped her in that area) while keeping her eye on Botan. She didn't quite understand it- Botan seemed to like Kurama quite a lot…so then why did she not even accept his gift?

They found themselves in the shop, finally engaged in a five-way conversation. Keiko ordered a strawberry flavor and saved a table right by the window. The place was truly beautiful…the town was small but very pretty and clean. She was joined by her four comrades, who had taken a rainbow of flavors. Yusuke sat right next to her, taking her completely by surprise.

"What did you get, Keiko?" Botan asked.

"Strawberry,"

"I almost took the same flavor," said Yukina, "But I like this one very much. Kurama-san helped me,"

"It wasn't a problem," he said, waving it off.

Yusuke crumpled up his napkin and shot it at the trash can, frowning- he missed by an inch. The rest of the group was split between laughing and being in awe that he was already done eating. He glared back at the group, then playing with the sugar packets on the table. While the rest of them talked, Yusuke made a triple-decker.

Keiko realized how sneaky Kurama was when she was in the middle of a conversation between everyone but Yusuke and totally forgot everything weird he'd done. Aside from that, she found the whole experience, as Botan hoped it would be, most delightful. She learned all sorts of things about the others she never knew and had some of the wackiest conversations she could remember. When they were almost ready to leave, she turned to Yusuke, who hadn't talked since they were outside. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"I'm fine, better check Kurama though. If he keeps having such easily-built conversations with girls I might start to worry he's gone bi on us."

Kurama gave him possibly the nastiest glare Keiko had ever seen. Yusuke almost fell out of his chair laughing.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

"So, if it's on October fifth, why don't you come…Friday?" Keiko could just see Shizuru twirling her phone cord lazily.

"Friday? Shizuru, that's the day before-"

"Yeah, so you'll miss a day of school." Shizuru said. It was like she didn't even care, while Keiko was hyperventilating!

"To prepare for homecoming?" Keiko shrieked. "You must be kidding."

"Sure, why not? And I do have to get you back in time, you know."

"I can't miss a day of school, and especially not at a prestigious boarding school!" Keiko could see it: Unexcused absence! Five detentions, Yukimura!

"Calm down, valedictorian," said Shizuru,"I'll get all your assignments,"

"Student council-" Keiko started, pleading.

"Makes you even more PMS-y. Speaking of which, did you start yet?"

Keiko blushed. "No, and can we not talk about this?"

"I suppose," said Shizuru, sighing. Keiko heard Kazuma making barfing noises, followed by a loud slap. "So, it's all sorted out. Go to bed, Keiko-chan." She hung up. Keiko didn't bother to say goodnight.

She took off her robe and put it on the rack, tucking herself into bed and turning out the light. It was late- she'd been talking to Shizuru for a long time. Both Botan and Yukina were fast asleep. She wondered if the curfew people were going to come get her.

Keiko tossed and turned for about ten minutes before she started to hear something. There weren't any voices, just…_swoosh! Swoosh! Clink! Clink!_. Great…it was noise day, she thought. Never mind Keiko needed her precious sleep!

_Clink! Swoosh! Swoosh! Clink!_

Keiko buried her head into her pillow, turning in frustration. Just go to sleep, go to sleep…

_BOOM! _

"That's it!" she hissed, careful not to scream so loud. "Whatever's out there is going to get a piece of my mind!"

Tossing the blankets aside, Keiko stomped over to the window, opening it. She poked her head out. It was a windy night. Maybe that was what was causing the sounds…no, wind couldn't cause voices though. Keiko looked down.

She froze. "Uhh…h-h-h…um…h-h-h…"

**End of Chapter 12**

**Katie's Note: **Eeek! Sorry for the wait…I keep saying that, need to get on my tail- hopefully, things will speed up now- I'm doing "Fractured!" as well as this, but don't worry, I'm not abandoning this story, especially now that things are picking up speed…

Next chapter is Hiei! Yay! I've been waiting to put him in! I just love his 'tude- cracks me up every time.

This one was fun to write. And here's some shameful self-advertising- go read "Fractured!"

**Until my next update…**Maria lost yesterday! Man…but Roger's going to kick some you-know-what twenty minutes from now…


	13. Window

"**Beautiful Disaster" **

**Chapter 13**

_Hey, you guys! This chapter is, once again, for _TheBigW_, a really awesome reviewer who is either a musical genius or a wielder of the ever-powerful google! And so, on with the fic!_

_He drowns in his dreams…_

_An exquisite extreme, I know…_

_He's as damned as he seems…_

_With more heaven than a heart could hold…_

Keiko's hands started to shake. She tried to take a few steps back, but her feet couldn't move. She tried to scream, but all that came out was a soft "Uhh…um…". She had never seen anything like it, except for special effects in movies, and this was no movie. It was a dream…demons didn't exist, Keiko! This is all in your mind!

And yet…as much as she didn't want to believe in monsters, she had never felt more curious.

"…_Many students believe and have believed that Yamajiro and the surrounding area is inhabited by a number of demons…"_

"…_Over time many students have complained about noises and voices after the curfew hours…"_

"…'_kidnapping a human wench'…"_

It was a short man in a black cloak, a white scarf, and a blade's sheath around his waist. His hair was at least six inches up in the air and was several colors. He had two red eyes pounding into Keiko's body…and a third one that was purple. She found it rather grotesque, actually.

The purple eye pulsed and Keiko's mind began to hurt worse than ten migraines combined. Putting her arms behind her head and crouching down, she found the power to scream "STOP!" as she started to lose consciousness. And then…it all stopped.

The monster gave her a smirk. "So…you'd rather live with my memory? Stupid girl…"

Keiko could speak now, but she didn't quite know how to respond. "I…just found out…what the noises were…caused by…at least I'd know, regardless…

"Speaking of those noises," she regained her total "power", "Why are you so active at this hour?"

"Hn," he answered, turning away from her. "That's none of your business, human,"

"When you're doing it outside of my window at midnight, it is! Can't you practice with your stupid katana during the daytime, away from my room?"

The demon was taken aback and rather offended, turning around to face her. "I'd worry about my own hide, wench, being around the detective so much," he snapped.

Keiko wanted to ask who the "detective" was, but she didn't feel it was as important as her sleep. "Maybe it isn't the katana…"

He gave her a horrible glare. Keiko didn't mind. Maybe there was a reason he had to be around only at night…when no one could see him…

Rape? No, he would have done so by now…

Secret Agent Demon? Now that was just stupid…

Demon in love? He wasn't blushing when he was talking to her, but what about…"You like Botan, don't you?" Keiko thought about it for another second, smiling. "Oh, that's cute! A demon secretly admiring a human girl, only coming at night to watch her sleep! That would be an adorable movie."

He had his hand on his katana and Keiko knew he probably wanted to kill her now. "I do not…admire humans…" He wasn't blushing though.

"What about…Yukina?" Keiko started to think more deeply about their entire encounter so far and became very amused, laughing as the strange demon glared holes through her body and threatened to kill her _and_ Botan (Though he referred to her as "The other useless wench") if anything were to happen to Yukina. He denied liking Yukina, of course, but Keiko didn't care.

"You know, at first, I really wanted to kill you, but you're a pretty funny guy," Keiko was trying to be sincere, but he didn't find it flattering. "I'll visit you tomorrow. Would you like some food? The students have to pay, but I could get you some cookies."

"Go…away…" he replied.

"All right, fine," Keiko started to close her window. "But I'll be back tomorrow, lover boy,"

When she got back into bed, she heard Yukina's window open. Looking over, her roommate was poking her head out the window and looking around. "Mr. Hiei?"

This greatly interested Keiko. "Something up, Yukina?"

Yukina jumped in place, startled. "I just thought I heard someone I know, but I guess I was wrong. It would have been nice." She closed her window and crawled back into her bed.

Keiko's thoughts were filled of her first conversation with Mr. Hiei.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Open to page one hundred two," said the teacher. It was English class, which Keiko never really needed to pay attention to, but she'd discovered that this was Yusuke's worst class. It was extremely tempting to talk to him, but she controlled herself most of the time. It was strange…the things he said and did could set her off immediately, but there weren't many others whom she liked to talk to as much as with him.

She hadn't told him about Mr. Hiei yet. She could never guess his reactions to things, but she thought he might find it funny. Maybe he'd try and pick a fight with the demon, which would scare Keiko to death…

"Yukimura?"

Keiko snapped up out of her leaned-back, relaxing pose and tried to look as attentive as possible. Yusuke snickered behind her. "Yes?"

"Would you translate the next sentence?"

"Yes…" Keiko took a good look at it for about thirty seconds or so. "It says…'I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree.'"

"Yes, yes, very good Yukimura," The teacher put her popsicle stick on her desk, showing that she had already translated a sentence. She picked up another stick. "Well, well-"

"Attention, Attention. All students involved in student council, this announcement is extremely important. You have been arranged as to who pays for what and who does what, but there has been a change. All council members and any volunteers need to be present the day of homecoming to put up decorations. If you wish to volunteer, please go to the office and sign up. If council members have conflicts, please take it up with the senior president and Abe-sensei. Thank you."

The teacher sighed. "As I was saying, Urameshi…"

Keiko heard Yusuke curse a few times before asking the teacher about a certain word. She didn't care about that- she had a dilemma. If the freshmen had to help all Saturday…Shizuru's preparations…how was she going to handle that?

Keiko was beginning to think that homecoming was the worst idea of her life.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

She walked slowly into Abe-sensei's room, where, awaiting instances such as Keiko's, most likely, was the senior president, Morie Miyake. Abe-sensei was not around, apparently. Keiko and Morie already had a history, which would only make things harder for Keiko. She was also deathly afraid of Morie- the girl had long, shining black hair and was extremely tall, a smirk almost always on her face. It was rumored that Morie was being recruited in the United States for basketball.

"Oh…Yukimura-kun. Problems with the announcement?" said Morie, twirling her hair and swaying.

Keiko folded her arms. "Look…I'm not here representing the student council of the ninth grade. I'm here for myself."

"Oh, yes, I'm sure you have such a _busy_ schedule, being the popular girl that you are." Keiko's frown grew darker. She didn't have that many friends because she didn't need that many friends, not because people didn't like her. Keiko knew that at least the male population liked her, although it was mainly a physical attraction. "So, what's the conflict?"

"I have a home visit that day and may not be back until perhaps an hour or two before the event," Keiko tried not to lose control.

"Hmm. A girl organizes an event and can't be there to help put up decorations because she has to visit her family? _Scandalous_, Yukimura," Morie drummed her fingers on a nearby desk. "In my opinion, the _freshman class president _should definitely be there. Besides, it's your first of four. You don't have to look spectacular for it- you have senior year for _that_,"

Keiko wanted to slap herself in the face. Why, oh why did she organize this dance her freshman year? Didn't she know that she'd get absolutely no respect from the upperclassmen, regardless of it being _her_ idea in the first place? She was such an idiot…

"So, the answer is no?" Keiko said, feeling totally worthless.

"Exactly," Morie replied. "You wanted to be class president- you've got responsibilities other than a title,"

Keiko turned on her heel and walked out, sighing in defeat. Stupid Morie…stupid dance…stupid everything! Why couldn't she get a break?

She couldn't believe the nerve of that senior! Even if things turned out all right…who did she think she was, prancing around like homecoming had been her idea! If Keiko had other things to do, she should be able to do them!

Abe-sensei walked by her with a soda. "Hello, Abe-sensei," she said, careful not to sound angry.

"Were you just there to discuss a conflict?" the teacher asked, worried.

"Yes," Keiko replied, nonchalant.

Abe-sensei scratched her chin. "Let me guess…she turned you down?"

Keiko glared. "Pretty much,"

"Hey, I'm the teacher. I have a proposition: You give me two people to go instead of you, and I'll override Morie."

"Are you sure you can do that?" Keiko was relieved, but she didn't want her dreams shattered later.

"As I said, I _am_ the teacher, and the cool one in this nerdhouse," Abe-sensei took a sip of her drink. "Have your friends come to the office, tell them to sign up in your name."

Keiko gave a fake smile as she started to go in the direction of her dormitory. "Got it,"

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Keiko decided before dinner that she would wait until then to ask her roommates about doing the preparations. She'd felt extremely lazy while sitting in her dorm.

Picking up her second cookie, Keiko had a flashback to that night. She put it in her pocket for Mr. Hiei. She didn't know if he'd like it, but Keiko also didn't know what Mr. Hiei was eating. Of course, being a demon, he might not have to eat at all.

To sum it up…Keiko not only knew nothing about demons, but was brain dead. Just the frickin' icing on the goddamn cake.

Using Yusuke's phrases…yes, definitely brain dead. Maybe she should ask later…

"Keiko-san?"

Yukina. Put on a fake happy face…"Yes?"

"Don't you have a conflict with preparing for homecoming?"

Shit. No, stop cursing! Bad Keiko! "Yeah, I do."

"Did you get it sorted out?" she asked.

"Yeah…I just have to have two people go instead of me. Do you think…you and Botan…could?"

"I was going to do a home visit, but I called it off! Good timing, no?" Botan seemed willing enough. "I can do it!"

"Oh…" Yukina looked off into space. Keiko cursed again, then cursing herself for cursing. "Keiko-san, I'm doing a home visit. I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Actually, it wasn't, but Keiko wasn't about to say that. "Yusuke?"

"What? I'm trying to eat." He said, seeming to throw three rice balls into his mouth at once.

"Could you help to prepare the hall a few weeks from now?" She asked, half annoyed, half desperate.

"No." He answered. Lazy ass, Keiko thought. Oh, man, she'd gone off the deep end…it was all Morie, she knew it. Kurama would never volunteer, she knew- being the metrosexual he was, he'd take hours to be ready. He simply didn't have time, if that was the case.

"I could do it."

Oh god, thank you! Keiko's butt was saved. She could just hug the redhead! Keiko wanted to go on with thanks, but she didn't. "Thanks so much!"

"It isn't a problem," Kurama answered, eyeing Botan (Who had dug her face into her plate in embarrassment) and then fixing his gaze on Keiko. "After all, the girl who organizes the entire ball should look the most beautiful."

Keiko blushed and looked down at her plate. Yusuke, observing this, spat on Kurama's sushi. He didn't seem to notice, nor did Keiko.

"Oh, and when you two sign up, make sure to do it in my name." Keiko added, taking a bite out of a rice ball.

"Got it!" Botan cheered, but for some reason it sounded half-hearted. Keiko remembered the second volunteer and realized why.

Keiko left the dinner hall after that, ready for a visit with a certain demon.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

She wasn't in the mood for getting up, but Keiko wanted to see Mr. Hiei again. She sauntered over to her window and opened it, calling out in her best Yukina-like voice, "Mr. Hiei?"

No one came. He was a demon, after all, Keiko thought, he could probably tell the difference by some freaky demon instinct.

She did not save a _really good cookie_ for nothing. "MR. HIEI, GET OVER HERE!" Still no Mr. Hiei. Oh, wait…

"What the hell do you want _now_?" said the familiar demon, underneath her window.

"I got you a cookie," she tossed it down to his hand. He studied it, totally confused. "Well, aren't you going to eat it? I did save it just for you,"

He put it on the ground. "I despise human food,"

Keiko frowned. "If you hate everything associated with humans so much, why do you live amongst humans?"

"Hn."

"You're hiding something, aren't you? Of course, you like Yukina, so you must secretly love humans!"

"Shut up. This is where all the 'bad' demons are sent when they do something 'extremely horrible'. Sometimes, as extra torture, the Spirit World enrolls them in school, amongst humans they can't strangle. And when they die…_limbo_," He sounded excited, though it was obvious that he was one of those bad demons.

"Well, for someone who's doomed, you don't seem that upset,"

Keiko was starting to feel sorry for Mr. Hiei, though she couldn't believe it. He had a temper problem and deliberately gave her a really bad headache, but he probably had been that demon the very first night to kill those troublemakers she had heard. That showed he had a heart…didn't it? He shouldn't be in a foreign land and then in limbo for a long time!

Hiei adjusted his cloak. "This isn't my fate."

His voice was almost like he was hopeless if Keiko really listened. She'd heard Yusuke sound like that sometimes, Yukina and Kazuma too.

"Are you sure?" Keiko whispered.

"Hn. Why am I even letting you talk to me? Demon matters are too complicated for simpletons like you,"

Keiko groaned. "Excuse me for feeling sympathetic. And just when I thought I could make a friend…"

"Friends are for weaklings," He shot back.

Keiko tried to think of what Shizuru would say. Her guardian would have a field day with a little hothead like Mr.Hiei. She usually disapproved of the things Shizuru said to people, but right now she was in a horrible mood and needed some company. Inspiration for an insult struck- Keiko sighed and said it. "Look who's talking. What's Yukina going to be, your prostitute?"

The look on his face showed Keiko she had definitely said the wrong thing (As the sane part of her good-girl mind had warned her), but for some reason she didn't mind. She was stifling laughter, forgetting homecoming, Morie, and everything else that was causing her breakdown and the death of her brain, when Hiei jumped up with his katana, aiming for her neck. Keiko quickly shut the window, locked it, and fell on her bed giggling.

Hiei, naturally, was not happy. Unfortunately, he was also secretly a fan of any kind of human confection, and so he ate the cookie instead.

**End of Chapter 13**

**Katie's Note: **See? I did update over Spring Break!

I apologize for yet another fluff chapter- I know they're painful because they're also painful to write. Guess what? Next chapter something happens! Yes! Keiko deals with the next big homecoming problem: Being asked out! (And Shizuru's preparations…)

Hiei's appearance, in my opinion, wasn't so great. Don't worry: He's going to be a frequent guest!

While it seems pointless and random, this chapter actually sets up for some other stuff, and a reason I sort of like it is because it makes you _think_ you know what's going on…but you have no clue! Mwahaha! This is going to make all these theories in your head…hee hee!

Well, I'm off. It's a nice day and I've been cooped up writing since I woke up. Please excuse extremely crappy writing, as I am, like Keiko, feeling very lazy at the moment.

**Until my next update…**when, oh when, is the French Open?


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